No New Year power cuts, restricted to two hours over weekend

by Ifham Nizam

The CEB management Friday said that plans are under way to provide electricity with minimal load shedding during the weekend and provide supply without interruptions on the Sinhala and Tamil New Year day.

An Additional General Manager who asked not to be identified told Sunday Island that the Indian Credit Line would enable the supply of 12,000 MT of diesel on a weekly basis.

He also said that demand would be much less next week due to the holidays in most factories and industries.

“However, the CEB cannot go on without a tariff hike. We lose Rs. 20 every unit produced. When the last tariff hike (2013) was enforced the USD was Rs. 130. Today it’s almost Rs. 320 and we cannot go on like this.

“The government refused the proposal for a tariff hike. People’s Bank is not releasing the money we need. If this goes on CEB will have to be closed down,” he added.

 Meanwhile, the Electricity Sector Regulator, the Public Utilities Commission on Friday said that load shedding will not take place  on April 13 and 14.

PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said that  the  CEB  has adequate stocks of fuel and furnace oil required for power generation in the sort term.

Further, the duration of power cuts will be shorter in the coming days as the demand for electricity is expected to be low during the week-long holiday, Ratnayake added.

The PUCSL meanwhile approved reduced power cuts for this weekend with two-hour power interruptions on Saturday (April 09) and one-hour power cuts today  Sunday (April 10).