According to a World Bank report published in 2017, South Asian giant India loses USD 86 billion annually following power sector disruptions including frequent power outages, this is equivalent to the total economy of Sri Lanka. The report “In the Dark: How much do power sector distortions cost South Asia”, highlights that more than 255 million people in the region depend on the electricity grid which is equivalent to more than a quarter of the world population who do not have access to electricity.
Kerawalapitiya incident
Last Monday, Sri Lanka also faced a sudden blackout at 12.45 p.m. which prevailed for several hours till late evening the same day, a ‘relatively’ rare incident as Sri Lanka has a better electricity distribution system compared to other regional countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. However, this sudden blackout had cost nearly Rs 1 billion to the Sri Lankan coffers, according to Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) calculations.
Following the power failure, the Ministry of Power appointed a seven-member committee on Tuesday, August 18 to investigate Monday’s sudden power outage. However, the CEB believes a human error by an officer attached to a grid substation in Kerawalapitiya to be the reason for the power failure on Monday.
Dr. Susantha Perera, Additional General Manager at CEB told the media on Friday that an officer has made a mistake during maintenance at the above-mentioned substation. He claimed that a condition of ‘earthing’ happened during the maintenance and it affected the shutdown of the Kerawalapitiya and Norochcholai power plants.
President of the Technical Engineers and Supervisors Association A. G. U. Nishantha who testified before the Ministerial Committee on Friday, August 21 said, “I admit the fact that there was an incident during maintenance work at the Kerawalapitiya substation. But I do not admit that it was the reason for the Norochcholai break down” he said.
He said there are four safety zones (substations) between Kerawalapitiya and Norochcholai namely Kotugoda, Veyangoda, Chilaw and Noochcholai where any fault in the transmission can be detected and stopped automatically. As the Yugadhanavi power plant in Kerawalapitiya contributes less than 5% to the national grid, had the safety system worked properly, the incident in Kerawalapitiya would not be the reason for an island-wide blackout.
“I think there was a separate breakdown at Norochcholai and they want to cover it up the Kerawalapitiya incident,” Nishantha said.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), the economic, technical and safety regulator of the electricity industry in Sri Lanka was established by an Act of Parliament No. 35 of 2002, with primary goals of promoting interests of all consumers.
PUCSL
The same day the power outage occurred, the PUCSL instructed the CEB to submit two reports on investigation results of the power failure, an initial investigation report with causes of the failure and a detailed report on the failure and action taken to check it. The former was due to be submitted to the PUCSL on Thursday, but it had not reached the PUCSL till Friday night, Director Corporate Communications at PUCSL, Jayanat Herath said.
The PUCSL considers the CEB is one of its licensees to generate and distribute electricity.
As per condition 30 (10) of the licence, the CEB shall obtain prior approval of the Commission for every scheduled interruption of electricity supply throughout the island/ or major part of the island irrespective of the cause of the same, other than the interruptions due to maintenance in respect of which prior notice is given to the general public. It also states, “the licensee shall also prepare a report on any event that resulted in unplanned interruption of electricity supply throughout the island/ or major part of the island irrespective of the cause of the same, and submit to the Commission”.
Nevertheless, in addition to reviewing the CEB report (when it reaches the PUCSL), the Commission itself has launched an investigation through their engineer teams.
“We want to investigate two matters. One is the incident that happened at Kerawalapitiya and how it affected the Yugadhanavi plant. The second is to investigate the Norochcholai break down,” Herath said.
In order to cover both aspects, two investigation teams have already visited both locations and are planning to finalise the report in two weeks following the obtaining of some more information from the Norochcholai management.
As the regulatory body the PUCSL wishes to find the real cause between the island-wide power outage and also to present recommendations to avoid similar incidents in the future.
“Hopefully we can tell what actually happened by the first week of September,” Herath said.
Meanwhile CEB Engineers Union President Anuruddha Thilakrathna debunked the claim of a separate break down in Norochcholai. In a brief interview with the Sunday Observer he said that if there was a break down in Norochcholai, the power supply would not have been to restored this soon.
“There had been a malfunction in Kerawalapitiya and it lead to the shut down of Norochcholai. Now the independent commitee appointed by the Minister is investigating the incident. We hope that they would submit a fair report,” he said.
The management
The World Bank report underscores three types of distortions that lead to most inefficiencies in the power sector in South Asian nations as follows; Institutional distortions that arise from weak governance and inefficient allocation of inputs and outputs of the electricity sector.
Regulatory distortions areu due to price regulation, subsidies, and cross-subsidies. Social distortions that cause environmental and health damages.
A.G.U. Nishantha said that there are several management errors in the CEB which has led to the neglect of certain protocols with regard to the power supply.
“As Electrical Engineers are in most of the administration positions it is hard to ensure a smooth function of the sector” Nishantha accuses. He also believes that the entire incident was suspicious and could be a disruptive attempt to frame a certain party.
A press release on Friday by Minister of Power Dullas Alahapperuma stated that action will be taken on the incident after he receives the Ministerial Committee report.
“The State Minister of Power and I do not hesitate to take action for the betterment of the Power sector. Hence, I dedicate myself to take all decisions immediately for the uplift of the power sector” he said in the letter.
Despite several attempts the CEB Engineers Union President, Anuruddha Thilakrathna and Chairman of the CEB, Eng. Vijitha Herath was not available for comment.
Even though Sri Lanka is not experiencing huge losses due to power outages the way India or other South Asian countries do, the loss of Rs 1 billion is not a simple amount especially in a situation where the country struggles to breathe in an economic downturn due to a massive debt trap and post-pandemic financial woes. Perhaps this could be a sign of warning to the newly appointed Minister of Power Dullas Alahapperuma to break the long hibernation in the power generation sector as there was no single major power plant built after Norochcholai in 2011.