The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has requested the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) for permission to impose power cuts for two hours and 20 minutes today (01 Feb.) and tomorrow (02 Feb.). 

The request was made upon consideration of the fact that the Water Management Secretariat has restricted the release of water from reservoirs for hydro power generation since the expected rainfall was not experienced. 

The Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka today stated that they are no longer able to release adequate volumes of water from reservoirs for the uninterrupted supply of electricity. 

Accordingly, the Deputy Director General of the Mahaweli Authority explained that although heavy rains were expected in the Mahaweli river basins both yesterday (31 Jan.) and today, these rains are currently moving towards the Northern Province, thus, they are unable to provide sufficient volumes of water for the uninterrupted supply of electricity as they did for the last two days. 

Thus, only those volumes of water required for the usual generation of electricity, with the scheduled power cuts in effect, can be supplied.

Adequate water to generate power without any interruptions was released on 30 and 31 January, following a request made in this regard by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), owing to which, no power cuts were imposed during the aforementioned days.