PUCSL employees call for probe to find out who delayed construction of power plants

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The Employees Union of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (EUPUCSL) yesterday urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to appoint a Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) to find out reasons for the delay in constructing power plants, which has led to costly emergency power purchases.

Chairman of the EUPUCSL, Dr. Nilantha Sapumanage said that there was an attempt to mislead the public and policy makers into believing that the PUCSL was responsible for the delay at issue.

Sapumanage said: “We want the President to conduct an investigation into this and find out who is behind the delay in the construction of the power plants.”

Sapumanage said that a sustainable source of electricity was a prerequisite for realising the President’s economic vision.

Since 2015 new power plants had not been built, Sapumanage said. While the PUCSL was in charge of approving the long term generation plans prepared by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB,) the responsibility of constructing the plants lay with the CEB, Sapumanage said.

“It is obvious that power plants have not been constructed. We believe that certain parties want to purchase emergency power at high prices and they are behind the delays in plant construction. There are attempts to prevent the realisation of the President’s goal of meeting 70% of the country’s power requirement with renewable energy by 2030.”

The EUPUCSL President said that a regulator was necessary for the electricity sector because it was a monopoly. Therefore, a regulator played a vital role in securing the interest of the consumers. “The importance of a regulator is accepted by all, including the CEB’s Engineers’ Union. There is also a universal consensus that the water supply and petroleum sectors too need a regulator. Given this context it’s strange to see attempts being made to disband the PUCSL.”

In the face of those facts, the President should appoint a PCoI to look into who is behind the delay in power plant construction before shutting down the PUCSL, Sapumanage said.