Govt assures uninterrupted power supply & no immediate tariff revision

The government announced today that there’s will be no price revision on electricity as speculated in recent weeks and uninterrupted supply islandwide despite country is witnessing severe drought conditions. 

Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said today that the government's policy decision is to revise electricity prices biannually, in January and July every year.

“CEB has planned for an uninterrupted supply of power islandwide throughout the year with no scheduled power cuts. Currently the full capacity of available power plants are in use for power generation,” Minister said in a statement. 

The statement came following a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday with officials representing CEB and Irrigation Departments. Proposals to ensure a continuous power supply without any power cuts and the maximum water that can be released for agriculture will be shared with the Cabinet today, the statement said. 

Details related to the power generation for next 12 months, release of water for agriculture, hydro power capacity, thermal power options available will be shared and discussed as well. 
 
Meanwhile a discussion to settle the dispute between the landowners and CEB to complete the ADB financed Polpitiya-Hambantota transmission line has been scheduled to be held on August 11 by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). 

The 150 km transmission line connecting the southern province has come to stop in the last 3 months due to a dispute over the govt valuation for a 650 meter stretch of land the lines are connected through.

“If the dispute is settled the work can be completed in 4 days. CEB has already paid 2500 other individuals compensation on govt valuation and completed the work in the 150 km stretch over those areas,” the statement said.