Apropos article by Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya on ‘Energy Policy Review’ published on 1st and 2nd June 2011 in ‘The Island’, small Hydro Power Developers Association wishes to point out some factual errors made by Dr. Siyambalapitiya which mislead the readers regarding the Tariff paid to Small Hydro Power Developers.
The Standardized Power Purchasing Agreements (SPPA) valid for 15 years only applies for Small Hydro Power Projects under the scheme of avoided cost. The avoided cost tariff started with Rs.2.99 in 1996, for the first year ended up at an average of Rs. 5.96 per unit over the 15 years up to 2010. We do not know from where Dr. Siyambalapitiya got the Tariff of Rs.13.47 or from Rs.13.00 to Rs. 15.50 which he alleges was paid to Small Hydro Power Developers to create a very wrong picture on the Small Hydro Power Industry. His comparison of Large Hydro Power Plants of the Ceylon Electricity Board to private owned Small Hydro Power Plants without any base is unacceptable as the two types are totally differ in scale, operational costs, efficiencies and capital cost.
Dr. Siyambalapitiya either willfully or otherwise failed to mention that initial costs of CEB plants have been very high and the refurbishment costs of these plants to maintain a reasonable efficiency cost the consumers through their electrify bills.
Dr. Siyambalapitiya who is an expert consultant on tariff issues is well aware of the procedure and the process of deciding the tariff and knows that the cost based tariff for recently developed Small Hydro Plants were formulated by the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) after lengthy studies and consultations with stakeholders.
We wonder why he did not object to the three tiers, Cost Based Tariff for the Small Hydro Projects when it was announced by the Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka.
source : island.lk June 7, 2011,
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=27231