Sri Lankans, who now pay a cost–reflective price for electricity were let down once again over the weekend by the Government, relevant ministries, a weak regulator and the ever- mischievous Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), including its past and present administration, and its much celebrated “engineers”. Another islandwide power outage occurred last Saturday, lasting nearly 6 hours for some parts of the island. This, followed after two such earlier incidents which occurred in 2022 and 2021, about which there is little clarity, neither transparency nor accountability to speak of. What happened to the two inquiries launched by the Ministry of Power and Energy into both those incidents? And what became of the two CID-led investigations into the matter? Who was held responsible? What justice was meted out? Nobody knows. And like with politics, a majority of the public is content on being blissfully unaware.
We learn that like before, there are now multiple probes underway to find out the reasons behind the power outage. What will become of them? If we are to go by past practice, we will not hear of them soon, with news cycles moving on and authorities sweeping the inquiries under the carpet. Once, in the recent past, the then Minister of Power and Energy charged that one such islandwide outage was an act of “Sabotage”. Investigations were launched, ministers changed and little came of it. The status quo continues. The same Minister, like some before him, claimed that there were three Mafias which ran the national utility provider, a coal mafia, and diesel mafia, which governed deciding on whose energy sources were bought, and an internal mafia within the CEB that managed the grid and policy to enable such control. Despite significant allegations, which were used to some extent by this Government to push the “SOE-restricting” narrative, little has been done to expose them or curtail them.
As always, the public has expressed deep disappointment, stating that they deserve uninterrupted power supply as they have agreed to pay revised electricity charges which increased substantially during the past few months.
How does a national power grid management system which has been significantly invested into with donor funding, which is supposed to be automated to an extent and have failsafe incorporated into it, let an islandwide power outage occur? The CEB claims that “lightning strikes” on the Kotmale to Biyagama transmission line triggered the national blackout. Is our grid, our national power system so fragile? So vulnerable that it fails catastrophically due to “lighting”, and this is while Sri Lanka being a country which faces two monsoons a year, with significant lightning. Something sticks, and all the tech-talk and political posturing can’t cover up the stench. Let’s not forget that the “blackout” came just as a much talked about legislation about reforming the electricity sector was to be tabled in Parliament, a move that looked like it was trying to be railroaded through.
On 3 December 2021, an islandwide power outage occurred due to a breakdown in transmission lines. This persisted for a few hours, inconveniencing the entire country. This was, following a partial power outage that occurred late November of the same year. Both high-ranking officers of the CEB as well as the Power and Energy Minister said that this could be an act of sabotage, while the finger was pointed at CEB engineers, especially trade unions. Another notable islandwide power outage in recent memory was the one that occurred on 9 June 2022. In a context where the Sri Lanka Electricity Act was to be amended, the generation of several hydro-power plans was disrupted, and several areas experienced sudden power outages which the PUCSL stated were illegal power cuts. This occurred at a time when CEB engineers’ unions were pushing for the withdrawal of the Amendment. While probes were launched into the incident and the matter was serious enough to be discussed in Parliament, the PUCSL said that this alleged act is tantamount to an act of sabotage.
Will we get to the bottom of what happened in June 2022, or in December 2021? Will anyone be held accountable? Let’s not hold our breath. Similarly, last Saturday’s islandwide black out also signifies the political realities that the ordinary Joe faces; policy making and enforcing is done by the power that be, while the public remains in the dark or fixated on a smokescreen. No amount of bail out money from the IMF can fix Sri Lanka until the public starts asking questions and keep demanding answers. If not, the public will remain in the dark and the country will keep spiralling back to crisis.