• Four-hour power cuts from Monday inevitable
• The prevailing crisis is not an actual power crisis but one which resulted due to not maintaining existing fuel stocks   
• Fuel shortage to affect vehicular movement 

By Chaturanga Samarawickrama   

The prevailing power crisis is not an actual power crisis but an orchestrated attempt to sell the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to a foreign country in the future, a CPC trade union leader said in response to the sudden shutdown of the Kelanitissa Power House and another in Matugama last night, claiming it was due to a fuel shortage.  

 CPC Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya wing (JSS) Secretary Ananda Palitha told the Daily Mirror last night the crisis began as a result of not maintaining existing fuel stocks and generating electricity 70% of the time with hydro power.   

He said after the malfunction of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant (NCPP) on December 3, 2021 the main grid suffered a loss of 270 MW of electricity. Then the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) began to generate electricity with the use of maximum hydro-power following the instructions of the Energy Minister without considering the power generation cycle throughout the year.   

After the use of the huge capacity of hydroelectricity, the water level in the reservoirs reached a low level and again the CEB had to use fuel for electricity generation. Due to the shutdown of the power stations, 280 MW of electricity supply was lost to the national grid. Although, the CPC promised to provide fuel, the CEB has not received any.   

“If this situation continues, there would be a maximum of four-hour power cuts from Monday (6), and this is the first step of an attempt to sell the CPC to a foreign country, Palitha warned.