The calling of evidence pertaining to the investigation and public hearing into the island-wide power outage that occurred on the 3rd of December was held today.
It was held at the BMICH premises from 8.30am today, headed by the Chairman of Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka.
Senior officials of the Ceylon Electricity Board who were in office during the power outage were also summoned to submit evidence today.
Addressing the meeting, PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said as the service provider, the CEB had caused economical damage, hazardous situations, and other consequences of 9.65 GWh (Gigawatt hours) amounting to Rs.1.5 billion to the public, the economy and other stakeholders.
He said accordingly the decision to call for a public hearing was reached as per Article 18 of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka Act No. 35 of 2002.
Joining the discussion, former General Manager of the CEB MR Ranatunga said the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union had been engaged in a work-to-rule campaign for two weeks claiming there was a suspicion as to whether there was a connection between the work-to-rule campaign and the island-wide power outage.
Ranatunga said the letter he received from the Union had mentioned of a possible island-wide power outage.
He said the Union had also periodically told media that the public may be inconvenienced due to a power outage and that CEB officials including the Chairman and the General Manager of CEB must bear the responsibility
