Why Sri Lanka is Turning its Back on the Future ?

The Great Solar Sabotage: Why Sri Lanka is Turning its Back on the Future

Sri Lanka is a land defined by its abundance. Positioned in the heart of the tropics, we are blessed with near-perpetual sunshine and two powerful monsoons—the South-West and the North-East—that provide a free, inexhaustible source of energy. Yet, in a move that defies both economic logic and environmental sanity, there are proposals to penalize the very citizens who have invested their own capital into rooftop solar.

The justification? The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is bleeding money. But to suggest that discouraging renewable energy is the cure for the CEB’s financial terminal illness is like suggesting a thirsty man stop drinking water to save on plumbing costs.

The Elephant in the Room: Mismanagement

The CEB’s losses are not the fault of the sun; they are the result of decades of systemic mismanagement, inflated procurement prices, and a bloated workforce. Reports of meter readers earning upwards of 100,000 LKR per month—a figure that dwarfs the salaries of many skilled professionals in the country—point to a structural crisis.

Furthermore, the "transponder" farce is a perfect microcosm of this inefficiency. Digital meters were installed under the guise of modernization, yet manual meter readers still arrive at erratic intervals—sometimes at the start of the month, sometimes the end—leading to heated disputes and zero consistency. This redundancy exists not because of technical necessity, but because of the stranglehold of trade unions that prioritize job-bloat over national progress.

The Economic Cost of Ignorance

For a nation that has flirted with total bankruptcy, the math should be simple. Which is more expensive: the free wind and sun we possess, or the imported coal and diesel we have to buy with scarce foreign exchange?

By incentivizing rooftop solar, the state effectively crowdsources its power generation. Individuals take the risk, pay for the hardware, and reduce the load on the national grid. Discouraging this doesn't just hurt the "green" movement; it forces the country to remain shackled to expensive, volatile fossil fuel imports.

A Plea for Sanity

Supporting the move to cut back on renewable incentives isn't just a matter of political loyalty; it is a confession of ignorance. When we wear "colored glasses"—viewing national policy through a purely partisan lens—we lose sight of the fact that the sun doesn't care which party you vote for.

If Sri Lanka is to emerge from its economic shadows, it must stop punishing those who are trying to bring it into the light. We need a CEB that is streamlined, transparent, and tech-driven—not a colonial-era relic that views progress as a threat to its survival.

The decision-makers must decide: are they serving the people of Sri Lanka, or are they serving the "blood-sucking" inefficiencies that have kept us in the dark?