The General Manager of the Ceylon Electricity Board has sought the approval of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka to enforce scheduled power cuts of between two to nine hours.
The request has been made on four assumptions.
Chairman of the Commission Janaka Rathnayake speaking at a media briefing this morning said the CEB General Manager tabled a request for approval to enforce scheduled power cuts daily between the 25th of January to the 4th of February.
Rathnayake said four systems have been proposed to be followed for power cuts, one, the assumption that the third generator of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant, that is currently under repair and has a capacity of 300MW, is added to the national power grid on the 29th of January, secondly, on the basis that Sojitz Kelanitissa can continuously obtain fuel, thirdly, if the supply of fuel runs out from the 1st of February, and fourthly the diesel supply being suspended to all power plants.
He claimed that according to the proposed plan, the first schedule proposes two-hour daily power cuts in four areas categorised as A, B, C, and D on the basis of no furnace and no West Coast Power generation, the second schedule proposes six-hour power cuts on the basis that there is no diesel and the third a nine-hour power cut on the basis of no diesel, no furnace oil and less generation on water.
Meanwhile, Janaka Rathnayake said trade unions cannot determine whether power cuts will be enforced adding the power to enforce planned disruptions can only be approved by the PUCSL.
He noted the PUCSL when approved, will make a public announcement regarding power cuts, with accurate information.
The Public Utilities Commission Chairman added with today’s government decision, he is positive that power cuts will not have to be enforced, following the assurance of the supply of diesel and furnace oil on time.
