Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara says that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has planned for an uninterrupted supply of power island-wide throughout the year with no scheduled power cuts.

In a twitter post, Wijesekara asserted that currently, the full capacity of available power plants is in use for power generation.

Meanwhile, the Minister has held a meeting at the President’s Office yesterday (06), with the CEB and the Department of Irrigation in order to discuss the options related to ensuring a continuous power supply with no scheduled power cuts.

Furthermore, he expressed that the maximum water that can be released for agriculture will be shared with the Cabinet of Ministers today (07).

During the meeting, details related to the power generation for the next 12 months, the release of water for agriculture, hydropower capacity, and thermal power options available will be shared and discussed, the minister added.

Moreover, another discussion pertaining to the settlement of the dispute between the land owner and the CEB to complete the ADB (Asian Development Bank) financed Polpitiya-Hambantota transmission line is scheduled to take place on Friday (Aug 11), according to the minister.

Wijesekara, who expressed that the 150 km transmission line connecting the Southern Province, has come to a halt in the last 03 months due to a dispute over the government valuation for a 650-meter stretch of land the lines are connected through, further claimed that if the dispute is settled the work can be completed in 04 days. 

The CEB has already paid 2,500 other individuals compensation on government valuation and completed the work in the 150 km stretch over those areas, he added.

In addition, the Energy Minister claimed in the tweet that there will be no tariff revision on electricity as speculated in the media. 

He also assured that the government’s policy decision is to revise electricity prices biannually, in the months of January and July each year.