The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka says an uninterrupted power supply can be provided until the 17th February without incurring additional costs.
The PUCSL Chairman in a letter to the Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board said requests have been made to the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka to allow the Ceylon Electricity Board to release at least 2GWh per day more than the allocated water dispatch until the 17th February 2023 for power generation.
The PUCSL noted that the electricity demand in January 2023 has dropped by 13% – 14% compared to the demand in the same period in 2022, the CEB is currently saving 1.3GWh 2GWh (estimated) per day by imposing power interruptions and hydro dispatch in January 2023 is 20%-21% less than compared to the hydro dispatch in the same period in 2022 and therefore, Hydro Reservoirs has a total capacity of water at present which can generate 778GWh of electrical energy, which is 100GWh higher than the reservoir capacity had in the same period of year 2022.
Chairman Janaka Ratnayake also stated that the PUCSL is in the process of determining the electricity tariff based on the tariff proposal dated 05th January 2023 requesting a revision of electricity tariff, and the Consultation event which is one of the steps of the tariff determining process, will be held on 08th February 2023.
Accordingly, the letter states as agreed at the meeting held at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, if any additional cost will be required to be incurred to provide an uninterrupted power supply until 17th February 2023, that cost will be recovered through the above tariff determination.
