• Claims CEB has received a report about 9 Feb. islandwide power outage
• Says Victoria Power station was not properly maintained

Former Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka claimed that a Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) report revealed the islandwide power outage on 9 February was caused by a defect at the Victoria Power Station and accused the CEB of attempting to alter the report.

There have been several islandwide power outages over the last decade, with the most recent one occurring on 9 February, which took several hours to restore. Subsequent reports, including statements issued by the Ministry of Energy, suggested that the outage was triggered by an issue at the Panadura grid substation, with a minister claiming that it was due to the actions of a monkey tampering with electrical equipment.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, Ranawaka said that a report prepared by the CEB on the incident had been released and made no mention of an issue at the Panadura grid substation. “The report is out now. It states that the Victoria Power Station was not properly maintained, causing it to trip (a safety mechanism where a circuit breaker or switch automatically shuts off power due to an overload or fault). That is what happened. The issue was at the Victoria Power Station, not in Panadura.”

Claiming that he is in possession of the relevant report, Ranawaka said that he would disclose its content to the public soon. “The CEB is now trying to alter this report. We will disclose it to the public soon. We ask the Government to pay attention to these matters instead of making media shows."

Attempts to contact Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Chairperson Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya and Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Director of Communication Jayanath Herath were unsuccessful.

In the aftermath of the power outage, several parties have been requesting that the PUCSL conduct an independent investigation into the power outage.

When contacted on an earlier occasion, Herath said that the PUCSL was still awaiting for the CEB to provide them with information and data on the islandwide power outage. He added that they had twice requested the CEB to provide information and data on the incident, but the latter was yet to comply.