Electricity and Petroleum Sector Reforms: Let Consumer be the King

In the past two years, rarely has a week passed without a news item which highlighted the losses, poor quality of products and services, inefficiencies and possibly corruption in the electricity and petroleum sectors. This was not a new phenomenon. A decade ago, a current Senior Minister was moved to call four of the State – Owned Enterprises (SOEs) including the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), “Monsters” that swallow up large amounts of scarce resources and yield very disappointing returns.