25 May 2024 12:44 am Views - 254
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has recorded over 59,400 electricity breakdown complaints, resulting in power outages for over 431,500 consumers during the last four days from May 21 to 24, the Power and Energy Ministry said.
The Ministry said more than 16,000 breakdowns had been cleared, and power supply resorted for about 330,000 consumers yesterday. CEB management and service staff are working around the clock to restore power to all affected consumers.
However, the CEB Engineers’ Union said restoration is challenging due to a lack of staff.
Issuing a statement, the Union said numerous incidents of tree falls on transformers and distribution lines have been reported, leading to significant disruptions.
“Our limited technical staff at the CEB are making extraordinary efforts to restore power as quickly as possible. We deeply regret that due to the high volume of calls, there are times when we are unable to respond to all customer inquiries. We kindly ask consumers to support our restoration teams and to report any fallen live electrical wires or devices to the Electricity Board immediately without attempting to handle them.
Ensuring the safety of our staff, the public, and electrical equipment is our top priority. We respectfully request the public to refrain from interfering with the duties of our employees during this critical time. Currently, the CEB has a very small number of employees available to restore power outages, which inevitably leads to delays in providing the expected quick service to our loyal customers. We want to clarify that the additional groups mentioned by the minister have not yet been received by the CEB. In this already challenging situation, the Acting General Manager of CEB issued a circular on May 21, 2024, abolishing several essential service positions, including the Maintenance Electrical Engineer in the Area Engineer Offices, Construction Units, and Distribution Maintenance Units. This decision, made without any scientific basis. “The CEB has a very small number of employees available to restore power outages, which inevitably leads to delays in providing the expected quick service to our loyal customers. We want to clarify that the additional groups mentioned by the minister have not yet been received by the CEB,” it said.