The National System Operator (NSO) has requested the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) and the Ministry of Energy to implement one-hour power cuts across four zones in Sri Lanka over three days, starting today (19).

According to NSO Chief Executive Officer Buddhika Samarasinghe, the power cuts are expected to take place between 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. during the three-day period.

Buddhika Samarasinghe said details of the planned outages were expected to be published on the websites of the National System Operator Company and the PUCSL.

Samarasinghe explained that authorities had initially considered power cuts lasting two hours per zone. However, they subsequently opted for one-hour interruptions, taking into account the operational challenges involved in managing power supply on an hourly basis.

He noted that managing the electricity feeders hour by hour would place a significant workload on the System Control Centre. Additional engineers have therefore been assigned to the centre to support the operation.

He also explained that the relevant teams would have to manually disconnect feeders from the electricity network in accordance with instructions issued by the System Control Centre and reconnect them after one hour.

The National System Operator Company and the relevant authorities are responsible for coordinating the process to ensure that the scheduled power cuts are implemented according to the planned timetable.