Committee appointed to probe island wide power failure

A committee has been appointed by the Ministry of Power and Energy to probe the island wide power failure today, Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said.

Electricity supplies were continuing to be restored throughout the night, but some of the areas including the northern province and  parts of several other districts were yet to receive power. Ceylon Electricity Board Chairman Vjitha Herath claimed 75 percent of power supplies had been restored by 9.00 p.m.

Minister Alahapperuma said the Ministry Secretary Wasantha Perera was instructed to ensure that the Committee meets at 8.30 a.m tomorrow. The Minister ruled out that it was an act of sabotage, but said that breakdown was being investigated.

The breakdown has resulted in the shut down of the Norochcholai coal power plant which would take several more days to restart. Due to the breakdown severe inconvenience was caused to the public while water supplies too has been affected.

Earlier in the day some of the main towns including Colombo was affected with the disruption of the traffic due to failure of colour lights. The last major island wide breakdown of power supplies were reported in the country in 2016.