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Power outages: PUCSL concerned about sabotage

05 Feb 2022

  • CEB GM and AGM were unaware of Independence Day outage: Ratnayake
  • PUCSL investigating if any criminal breach triggered outage
By Uwin Lugoda The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Chairman yesterday (5) expressed concern that the unscheduled and unapproved power outage by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) on Independence Day may have been an act of sabotage. Responding to a query about the unplanned outage, PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake told The Sunday Morning that the power shedding that occurred in certain Colombo suburbs last Friday (4) was not approved by the PUCSL and therefore was an illegal action.  He explained that according to the provisions of the Electricity Act, the CEB must request approval for power shedding from them and can proceed with a power cut only post receiving approval. “As the transmission licensee, the CEB needs to get our permission for a power shedding such as this. It does this by first giving us all the data on factors like projected demand and the availability of fuel in the thermal plants. Our expert engineers then look into this data and determine whether or not a power cut is needed,” Ratnayake explained. According to Ratnayake, power shedding is usually requested during peak hours when the demand is at its highest, reaching 2,005 to 2,006 MW. He pointed out that last month, 10 January, the CEB requested a two-and-a-half-hour power cut during peak time, but the PUCSL recommended and approved a 45-minute power cut instead. He stated that this particular power shedding was not done in this manner, with the CEB not submitting a request for approval. He explained that the PUCSL only learned about the power shedding via media personnel who had come across a WhatsApp message being circulated stating that a power shedding was due to occur from 5.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. last Thursday (3). “Due to the power cut having occurred without prior approval from us, it is illegal. Our understanding is that this should not have happened and this was the first time this has happened. We called the General Manager of the CEB and the Additional General Manager of Transmission, both of whom were unaware about the power cut. I think this could be an act of sabotage.” Ratnayake stated that a decision of this magnitude should be taken by the General Manager of the CEB. He stated that they were told that this power cut occurred due to a break that caused a system collapse. However, he said that looking at the pattern of events, the PUCSL was of the opinion that the power shedding had been exercised systematically. Ratnayake further stated that the power cut was avoidable, considering the demand during the peak that day was only 2,270 MW. “We also had an extra 20 MW of power in the West Coast Power Plant that we could have assigned to the CEB and avoided this power cut. It was unnecessary and it should not happen again.” He stated that the PUCSL was now taking three courses of action to identify the cause of the power cut – the first is to investigate the power cut to identify any criminal breach meant to cause a loss of income to the Government or to harass the public; the second is to ensure that the CEB has not neglected the directives of the Electricity Act; and the third is to trigger a public hearing. However, Ministry of Power Secretary Wasantha Perera stated that she did not think the CEB carried out this power shedding purposefully, adding that the Ministry was also looking into the matter to ensure that power would be supplied to the public without interruption. “Usually, the situation must be reported to the PUCSL and then it allows manual power shedding, but we do not know if this was manual power shedding. I am of the notion that the CEB would not do something like this purposefully or avoid the rules and regulations we have in place,” said Perera. Attempts to obtain a comment from the CEB Chairperson or GM were unsuccessful.  


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