The Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), Janaka Ratnayake, alleges that a committee, appointed on the recommendation of the Minister of Power and Energy, has prepared a proposal and a Bill to abolish the Ceylon Electricity Board Act and transfer its resources to 14 companies established under the Companies Ordinance No. 7 of 2007. 

Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo today (02), Ratnayake claims that if the proposals in the relevant draft are implemented, all the power plants belonging to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will be distributed amongst different companies. 

“The national transmission system as well as the distribution systems are being broken up into separate companies. The power to purchase electricity is also transferred to another company”, he charged. 

In addition to this, the PUCSL Chairman stressed that the inclusion of the provision that the rivers and reservoirs that supply water to the power plants should be managed according to the priority of the companies that own the hydropower plants will also challenge the rights of the people related to agricultural and drinking water needs. 

Ratnayake further accused the said committee of acting outside of their jurisdiction, alleging that the proposed draft is aimed at achieving “personal ambitions”. 

“It must be said that this committee have done tasks that are not related to them. The Cabinet of Ministers has only assigned this committee to study the institutional structure of the Ceylon Electricity Board as mentioned in the Sri Lanka Electricity Restructuring Act No. 38 of 2002 and to make recommendations for the implementation of that institutional structure. The institutional structure that referred there is the structure of generation, transmission and distribution. But the draft prepared by this committee is aimed at achieving their personal ambitions. The draft contains objectives that favor personal and political goals rather than actual reforms in the electricity industry”, he said in this regard. 

The Chairman also claimed that in the event the aforementioned proposal is implemented, “it is clear that the energy security of this country will fall into a dangerous situation due to the privatization of these distribution companies in the future”. 

“Under this situation, instead of an independent agency that protects the rights of electricity consumers and the public, a puppet-like regulatory agency controlled by the minister will emerge”, he warned.