The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka said further increases were likely in April, in-line with global energy prices.

"The increases we announce today were calculated on the basis of prices that prevailed before the Middle East conflict," PUCSL Chairman K. P. L. Chandralal told reporters in Colombo.

For most middle-class consumers, a kilowatt hour of electricity will cost 84 rupees ($0.28), up from 61 rupees or a 39.34 percent increase, while the lowest consumers -- those who use less than 30 kilowatt hours a month -- will see their bills rise by 11.11 percent.

Sri Lanka has raised fuel prices three times this month, increasing them by more than a third, and has announced a four-day working week in a bid to save energy.

The government has also asked the private sector to reintroduce work-from-home arrangements where possible.

The Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which some 20 percent of global crude and gas exports pass in peacetime, has been effectively closed by Iran after US-Israeli strikes on the country late last month sparked a larger regional conflict.

Sri Lanka imports all of its oil and also buys coal for electricity generation.

It buys refined petroleum products from India, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, while crude oil for its Iran-built refinery is sourced from the Middle East.

The government has warned that the fighting in the Middle East, and any prolonged war, could seriously undermine its efforts to emerge from the economic meltdown of 2022.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in 2022 after the country ran out of foreign exchange. Since then, Colombo has secured a $2.9 billion IMF bailout.