The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) should find out the cause of the power outage that occurred across the island on 9 December and take appropriate action without waiting for the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to find it and inform them (PUCSL), claimed the Electricity Consumers’ Association (ECA).

Refuting a statement made by PUCSL Chairman Prof. M.A.R.M. Fernando that it (the CEB) had accepted the responsibility for the islandwide power outage on 9 December, the CEB on Wednesday (27) stated that the relevant investigations into the incident are still underway.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (28), ECA General Secretary Sanjeewa Dhammika said that the PUCSL’s responsibility is not to wait for the CEB to come up with conclusions when such an incident has taken place. 

“The CEB has stated that they don’t accept the responsibility for the power outage. If they don’t accept it, the PUCSL should find out what happened, and make a statement to the public. Being the power sector regulatory body in the country, they cannot just wait for the CEB to find the cause and inform them. There are officials in the PUCSL who can look into this matter,” Dhammika said. 

Claiming that the country had incurred a loss of around Rs. 6 billion due to the islandwide power outage, he said that the PUCSL should take action against the responsible parties without taking the matter lightly.

On Wednesday (27), Prof. Fernando had told the media that the CEB had admitted that it was at fault for the recent islandwide power failure. However, the CEB had denied the statement as “incorrect”, and stated that investigations into the matter are still in progress.

On 9 December, a sudden major power outage was reported across the country at around 5.10 p.m. and the electricity supply was restored after more than five hours. As per the initial findings, the cause of the islandwide power failure was attributed to a breakdown in the transmission line from Kotmale to Biyagama, which the CEB claimed was due to lightning strikes.

The incident is currently being looked into by two committees, namely the internal investigation committee, chaired by an Additional General Manager of the CEB, and the external investigation committee, appointed by the Power and Energy Ministry.