COPE summons CEB and PUCSL over power purchase agreements

Monday, 6 August 2018 00:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Chathuri Dissanayake

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has summoned officials from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to hold an inquiry into matters pertaining to the purchasing of electricity from private power producers.

COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti has summoned officials of both entities to appear before the Committee tomorrow to investigate issues pertaining to purchasing of power and the mechanism employed to decide unit prices.

Handunnetti told the Daily FT that they decided to bring both parties before the Committee to understand the issues that have arisen in power purchasing procedures, which have resulted in disagreements between the two entities.

“We wanted to see what the issues are and why the CEB has not followed instructions given by the regulator.

In an earlier COPE report, we instructed them to publicise the purchase price formulae but they have failed to do so,” he said.

The CEB has been under scrutiny for extending the purchase agreement with one power plant, where payments were done by CEB with special approval from the Ministry Secretary as the PUCSL is yet to approve the agreement.

The matter was also criticised by the worker unions that also criticised the move by the CEB to extend the power purchase agreement.