PUCSL to introduce separate accountancy guidelines for CEB and LECO next year

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka is bringing in separate accountancy guidelines for the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Company (Private) Limited (LECO) to obtain better regulatory information to assist in its decision making processes.

“According to the tariff methodology designed by the Commission, the determination of allowed revenue requires information at the generation unit level, in the case of generation and sub functional level, in the case of transmission and distribution,” the PUCSL said.

It noted that the current accounts of CEB and LECO include revenue from non-regulated business activities such as air conditioning, refrigeration and lift installments.

“Therefore, a regulatory accounting system is required to bridge the gap between accounting information currently available and information that required by the Commission for making decisions,” the regulator said.

It said that completely separate books are not required, and that the relevant information could be extracted if the energy companies amend their charts to show the electricity generation, transmission and distribution information.

“(It) includes a set of accounting policies and principals, uniform system of accounts, disclosure requirements, principal for cost attribution, allocation and transfer pricing, audit process, principals for reconciliation of regulatory accounts with statutory accounts, templates for the preparation of regulatory accounts etc.,” the PUCSL added.

The regulator said that the new guidelines will come into effect from January 2017.