By Maheesha Mudugamuwa Courtesy The Morning

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) yesterday (28) reaffirmed that the existing power cuts would continue despite recommendations by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to provide an uninterrupted power supply during the period of Advanced Level examinations, which are being held until 17 February.

The CEB’s stance comes as the Ministry of Power and Energy and the utility regulator remain engaged in a war of words over electricity tariff hikes and power load shedding options. Meanwhile, students are preparing for the examination period amidst planned power outages.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, CEB Chairman Nalinda Ilangakoon said the CEB would like to suspend the ongoing power cuts during the A/L examination period, but under the current technical circumstances, it had no option but to continue power cuts.

We would like to abide by the recommendations given by the HRCSL, but nothing has been changed within the CEB technically as we are not given the required fuel free of charge nor has a loan been approved to obtain fuel from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). We have also not been given permission to impose the requested tariff hike to enable the board to recover the losses incurred on a daily basis,” Ilangakoon explained.

He stressed that without the necessary resources, the CEB had no option but to impose power cuts.

On 26 January, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) informed the CEB Chairman that the commission would not approve any scheduled power interruption from 26 January to 17 February and the commission directed him to provide an uninterrupted power supply until 17 February, in accordance with the agreement entered into on 25 January between representatives of the Ministry of Power and Energy, PUCSL, CEB, and the CPC, on the recommendation of the HRCSL.

The agreement had been reached with the aim of providing an uninterrupted power supply during the period of Advanced Level examinations until 17 February.

However, on Friday (27), Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera took to social media, charging that the representatives from the CPC had been coerced into signing the agreement by members of the HRCSL, who had allegedly threatened the representatives with jail sentences if they failed to do so. Minister Wijesekera stated that the ministry was seeking legal advice on how to respond to the HRCSL’s action.

PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake has further stated that the commission had observed that the scheduled power interruptions had been imposed on 25 January despite the above agreement and that it would therefore take the necessary legal actions over the violation of Condition 30 (10) of Electricity Transmission and Bulk Supply License No. EL/T/09-002 under the provisions of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act, No. 20 of 2009 and the PUCSL Act, No. 35 of 2002, upon failure to adhere to the above. 

When contacted, CEB Spokesman and Additional General Manager (Generation Division) Dhammika Navaratne confirmed the stance expressed by the CEB Chairman – that the CEB was technically incapable of honouring the HRCSL’s recommendations.

If power cuts are suspended during the A/L examination period, the length of the power cuts that it would have to impose towards the end of March and early April would have to be extended given the current hydropower status,” he explained.

According to Navaratne, the hydropower reservoir catchment areas are currently experiencing a very dry weather condition and therefore, the board will have to protect the existing hydropower resources for utilisation in the coming months.