New tariff to facilitate Electric Vehicles in Sri Lanka

In order to encourage the use of Electric Vehicles, on the 8th of July 2015, CEB had submitted a new tariff proposal for domestic consumers for the approval of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka. The CEB proposal, which is an optional tariff available to any domestic consumer currently having a three phase 30A or above supply, was approved by the PUCSL on 10th September 2015.

The new tariff is a “Time of Use” tariff where individual consumptions during three time blocks, namely “Off Peak” (2230 to 0530 of the following day), “Day”(0530 to 1830) and “Peak” (1830 to 2230) are separately metered and charged. Unlike the prevailing block tariff structure for domestic consumers, under this new Time of Use tariff, there is only a single tariff within each time block. In order to facilitate Electric Vehicle Charging, a low off peak tariff of Rs 13 per unit (kWh) has been offered for seven hours starting from 10.30pm. A higher tariff of Rs 54 has been charged for the four peak hours from 6.30pm and a tariff of Rs 25 a unit has been charged for the remaining thirteen hours of the day. The option has been offered initially only to those consumers having a three phase supply and the additional cost of the new Time of Use meter has to be borne by the consumer.

CEB also wishes to invite the attention of all consumers to ensure that the socket outlet that they use to draw power to Electrical Vehicle Charger complies with the latest IEE Wiring Regulations and the conductor size and the MCB in the final circuit is capable of continuously delivering the sizable currents likely to be drawn during vehicle charging. If in doubt, consumers are advised to get their installations tested by a Chartered Engineer to verify compliance. It is to be noted that incorrect practices are rampant where conductors having continuous ratings below 15A are being used in conjunction with a larger size MCB (16A) to wire 15A outlets. Consumers are cautioned that whenever the conductor rating, after de-rated to local conditions, is below the MCB rating, the conductor is not protected by the over current device (MCB) and may even lead to fire.

The official tariff announcement can be downloaded by clicking the link on the web page.

Source : http://www.ceb.lk/sub/news/news01.aspx?acquiesce=87