NCCSL says power cuts hindrance to both big and small biz

The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) yesterday said the ongoing power cuts are causing massive inconvenience to the country’s businesses, specially to the small and medium industries. 

The NCCSL pointed out larger industries are not affected to an extent because most of them have standby generators.

“It’s the small and medium-scale businesses and industries that are mostly affected,” the NCCSL said in a statement. 

The chamber also pointed out that irregular power cuts are causing further disturbance to their production processes and they are not in a position to plan production schedules effectively.  “Due to this condition, export-oriented production houses may fail with their delivery commitments, which may lead to loss of future orders. 
This crisis situation may further create a negative impact on attracting foreign direct investments to the country as well as the Ease of Doing Business Index ranking,” the NCCSL said.

The chamber further said the rift between the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has to be urgently sorted out, which is hindering the implementation of power projects. 

“The public’s right for uninterrupted power should be the main aim of the Power and Energy Ministry and they should be able to decide what should be the best option for this country on a properly planned criteria as the government is offering many incentives to the SME sector to increase production and exports. 

A balance between, coal, LNG and renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power has to be decided by a government-appointed panel of experts in these subjects as well as environment bodies, who are qualified and accountable and power plant type and locations should not be decided by various people having selfish motives,” the statement said. 

Further, the NCCSL proposed the CEB to pay for the use of generators by large industries and hotels instead of paying private power plants, who are waiting to supply at rates between Rs.25 to Rs.30 per unit.