‘CEB restructuring by September; power sector entities to be run separately’

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The government intends to restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) by September this year and would be unbundling the sector to run all its related entities separately, instead of running all connected entities under one institution, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.

“Under the restructuring exercise, the management structure of the CEB will be subjected to reforms and this would also enable renewable energy generation to be promoted in the country with the support of government and private and public partnerships, Wijesekera said at the Asian Development Bank’s Serendipity Knowledge Program launch yesterday. Two publications were unveiled on the occasion. The first was the energy sector publication, ‘On the Road to Achieving Full Electrification’ and the second was titled, ‘The Story of the Lanka Electricity Company.’ The event was held yesterday at Shangri la Hotel, Colombo.

Wijesekera added: ‘When the Lanka Electricity Company (LECO) was launched decades ago, it functioned well and certain countries in the region, especially India, followed the concept. However, unfortunately, we did not take forward that system due to various issues.

‘Once we introduce reforms to the CEB, power supply distribution and other related services, the functions will be separated by digitalizing all its functions to pass benefits to the consumers.

‘After these reforms we are hoping to promote power interconnections and now several countries are having such interconnections. Nepal and Bhutan have interconnections of power with India. We are hoping to discuss with India for interconnecting power with her, which will enable us to pass quality and low cost energy to the public.’