Power cuts to last over 7 hours tomorrow

Power sector regulator Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has given permission for scheduled power cuts lasting seven and a half hours tomorrow (2). 

The PUCSL had been compelled to grant the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) permission to impose the power cuts as the Central Bank and Treasury have not responded to a request made by the regulator to release  Rs 150 million for the CEB to import fuel needed for power plants. 

Accordingly, there will be a five hour power cut between 8.00am and 6.00pm while a further two and a half hour power cut will be in effect between 6.00pm and 11.00pm. 

During a press conference held this evening to announce the power cuts, PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake described it as "a dark day" where people have been deprived of their right to  electricity for seven and a half hours. 

He stressed that the current situation was not a power crisis but a financial and foreign exchange crisis that has disrupted the supply of electricity. 

It was unfortunate that despite even the President instructing the Central Bank and Treasury to provide the CEB funds to purchase fuel for its power plants, these instructions had not been carried out up to now, he further said.