The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka says Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila has agreed to supply the required amount of fuel to the Ceylon Electricity Board for the upcoming week.
Speaking to media, Chairman of the PUCSL Janaka Ratnayake said he held discussions with Minister Udaya Gammanpila this morning, in order to obtain necessary fuel stocks needed by the Ceylon Electricity Board.
He said accordingly, the CEB is expecting 10,000MT of diesel daily from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
Janaka Ratnayake noted following the arrangement, the CEB power plants will have necessary stocks of diesel, naphtha and furnace oil.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the PUCSL noted that the CEB requires to pay around Rs. 90 billion for the fuel it obtained from the CPC.
He said the CEB has now agreed to pay Rs. 20 billion to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation from the current arrears.
Janaka Ratnayake said from next week however the CEB will have to pay for the fuel it intends to obtain from the CPC.
Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission Janaka Ratnayake also noted that hydropower generation has reduced due to the recent dry weather experienced in a number of areas in the country.
He said the CEB and the PUCSL have been requesting the public to use electricity sparingly as possible to minimize the difficulties in generating thermal power.
Accordingly, Chairman Janaka Ratnayake also requested the public to reduce the use of air conditioners after 6 pm daily from today.
He said they are hoping to use private standby generators to generate around 50 MW of power.
Janaka Ratnayake said they are compelled to meet the daily demand through the use of standby power generators.
He said although they have requested the public to reduce the power consumption, the use of electricity had increased during the past week.
Janaka Ratnayake said last week power consumption in the country was around 2,500MW but it had increased to 2,700 MW this week.
Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission Janaka Ratnayake said if the current trend continues, they will have to resort to power shedding which will see unscheduled power cuts in various parts of the country.
