The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had to bear an additional cost of Rs 33.8 billion from January to May due to high dependency on oil to generate power during the prolonged dry spell the country experienced. Power and Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitya said the Treasury provided Rs 6 billion to cover the additional cost. Siyambalapitiya said the recent floods and landslides also caused a loss of nearly Rs 300 million to the CEB. Observing that the power supply of 770,000 consumers was affected due to disaster situation, he said the CEB workers worked round the clock to restore supply within a short period.
He said despite the monsoon rains in the South western part of the country, the water level in many reservoirs was not satisfactory. “The total reservoir storage is about 47 percent now, and this percentage was high over 70 percent in other years. We still need the support of public to use the electricity sparingly,” he said.
Siyambalapitiya said the Government in the next two months will open tenders to add about 890 MW to the national grid to cater to the power demand predicted in 2020. He added this includes 100 MW LNG plant, 220MW solar power plants and 170 MW wind power plants.