CEB unions blame each other for power crisis

• CEB Engineers’ Union points fingers at PUCSL

• CEB Workers’ Union blames engineers for running mafia 

• Engineers’ Union says regulator deliberately delayed approval of Long Term Generation Plan 

• Says officials are compromised as they are influenced by various parties 

• Justifies commissioning IPPs which have been retired, suggests taking over

• Workers’ Union calls for green energy

By Chathuri Dissanayake

The blame game in the power crisis took another turn yesterday, with the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Engineers’ Union pointing fingers at the Public Utilities Commission, only a day after the CEB was taken to courts by the regulator for non-compliance with licence conditions.   

Engineers’ Union President Saumya Kumarawadu claimed that the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) deliberately delayed giving approval of the Long term Generation Plan submitted for 2014-2034 until the Sampur coal power plant was struck off by the Government. Quoting communications sent by PUCSL on the matter, Kumarawadu said that the regulator delayed giving approval for the plan. 

“We take months to get the plan prepared, in consultation with the PUCSL itself, and it was only in 2015 August that we were able to submit the plan, they delayed the approval till 2016 September. But they sent us a letter saying that the coal plant should be removed, and then the plan should be resubmitted without the Sampur Power plant, we put 50% of the blame for causing this current crisis on the PUCSL,” he said. 

However, PUCSL communications to CEB shows the CEB delayed submitting details requested by the regulator to approve the plan submitted, which led to the late approval. The response from the CEB to a letter sent by PUCSL in December 2015 – which was also quoted by Kumarawadu – was sent only in August 2016. The PUCSL has granted approval for the generation plan one month later, sans approval for the Sampur coal power plant, which by then had been struck off the list by the Government. 

Noting that the CEB had plans to establish the coal plant, investing time and resources in planning for the 500MW generator to be set up, Kumarawadu pointed out that changes to a long term generation plan are not easily absorbed with the kind of resource limitations the country is faced with. 

However, the CEB Workers’ Union, which also held a media briefing on the crisis yesterday, pinned the blame on an alleged mafia run in the Ceylon Electricity Board, promoting coal. 

“What we want are green energy, coal may be cheap in the short-term but the environmental cost is too much,” CEB Workers’ Union chairman Malaka Wickremesinghe said. 

Wickremesinghe also refuted the claim that the long term generation plans were not approved, saying that the approval was given by the regulator on time, but delaying tactics were carried out without implementing the plan. 

The Engineers’ Union also claimed that opaque tender processes followed to bring in plants should be blamed, not the engineers. 

“The public shouldn’t blame engineers but question the politicians and officials who are attempting to do so, they are the ones to blame,” Kumarawadu claimed, saying that a transparent tender process should always be followed to establish plants. 

Denying that they are favouring emergency power, the engineers also pointed out that unlike other plants, emergency tenders are competitive, and don’t have room in the rates to give commissions as the cost is high, making the option the least favoured to address the current crisis.  

“It is the corrupt politicians and connected officials who should be blamed, not CEB engineers, we should follow the tender process to the letter to ensure no corruption, and fight against any mafia,” Kumarawadu claimed.