The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) stated that the dry weather prevailing in many parts of the country has not had a serious impact on hydropower generation.

Several parts of the country are currently experiencing extreme dry weather.

The Daily Morning queried CEB Chairperson Nalinda Ilangakoon as to whether the prevailing dry weather has had a serious impact on hydropower generation, to which he said that there has not been such a serious impact as of yet, and that power generation activities are being carried out as usual. “There is no serious impact as of now. We are managing to generate power,” he said.

Hydroelectricity has played a significant role in meeting the national electricity requirement since it was introduced in the 1950s, with over 50% of the total grid capacity met by hydroelectricity in 2000-2010. The hydropower resource in Sri Lanka is divided into two main regions based on the water resources, namely the Mahaweli Complex and the Laxapana Complex, and there are more than 20 hydropower plants in the country.

Meanwhile, the Electricity Consumers' Association recently stated that in view of the current dry weather, it is doubtful as to whether the CEB would revise the electricity tariffs by limiting the recently-revised electricity tariff rates as applicable to a very short period. 

“The water level in the reservoirs is going down again. Therefore, we doubt whether the CEB will raise the electricity tariffs again because of the inevitable decrease in hydropower generation.”