INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed his gratitude to the Venerable Maha Sangha for their contribution to conserving electricity at
religious shrines and the precedent it sets for society.The President said this in a special letter today (23) addressed to the Maha Nayaka
economic crisis over the last few years, and that he sees it as the responsibility of the government led by him to resolve all these issues
in a systematic manner for the benefit of the people and the entire religious community of the country.By 2022, 42,950 Buddhist temples and
In 2021, 91 million units of electricity (91 Gwh) have been provided.Under the current system of electricity charges, the Electricity Board
7.17 for a normal unit, and another Rs
11.46 has been spent by the Electricity Board for each electricity consumption unit used by religious institutions.Currently, 15,527
Buddhist shrines and other registered religious and social services use less than 30 units of electricity
Another 9,441 consume between 31-90 units of electricity, 3,274 places consume between 91-120 units of electricity and 4,972 religious
places consume between 121-180 units of electricity.Even under the new electricity charges, the highest monthly electricity bill of 33,214
registered Buddhist temples and other religious and social services, is less than Rs
Only the nearly 9,800 locations that consume more than 180 units have higher charges.Accordingly, these can be categorized into two groups
as temples or other religious places that consume less than 180 units of electricity and those that consume more than 180 units of
It is a fact that with the revision of the new electricity bill, places with high electricity consumption of more than 180 units will be
affected.The President has also mentioned in his letter that temples and other religious places with high electricity consumption will be
identified and a proper study will be done to provide a continuous service for electricity demand management and electricity conservation to
those places with the intervention of the government mechanism, under the leadership of the Ministry of Power and Energy
He noted that a program is necessary to appoint energy managers from among the lay people who are dedicated to the religious and social
mission of taking care of the religious places and to provide them with formal training and to survey the work on a monthly basis.President
Ranil Wickremesinghe pointed out that it is very practical to install solar panels to religious shrines that have to pay very high
electricity bills, adding that instead, opting for alternative mechanisms would only serve to provide short-term relief.He said that these
solar panels could be provided to these establishments at cost or they could be provided with the required funds to import such solar panels
The President also added that a suitable mechanism would be drawn up based on the advice and input of the Mahanayaka Theras and based on
priority basis, these solar panels could be installed so that it will not hamper any of the religious events planned at these religious
establishments in any manner
He noted that this endeavour is to ensure that the daily, monthly or annual religious rituals could be carried out without hindrance for the
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
