Contrary to statutory regulations, the CEB’s Electrical Engineer’s Office, Colombo South, has sent out letters only in the Sinhala language to customers, whose premises were inaccessible for meter reading, that their bills had been calculated on the basis of an average as an accurate reading could not be made.

"It’s improper to send these notifications only in Sinhala when the law demands that all three languages be used by government institutions in communicating with the public", an irate resident complained.

The notification requests customers to contact the CEB Electrical Engineer’s Office if there are any complaints pertaining to the estimates, but the telephone number given in the notification had been struck out, he said.

"We are in the process of preparing the notifications in English", said M. A. Panditharatne, the Regional Electrical Engineer.

The notifications in Sinhala were sent out until the English version is ready, he explained.

Asked about a Tamil version, he said there is no immediate move to prepare one. "We are going ahead with drafting the English one now".

He said that with the shifting of the Electrical Engineer’s Office, the telephone number had been changed and the new number was given to customers with their bills the previous month.