by Ifham Nizam

Consistent streamlined long term policy framework is needed by Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to provide electricity supply to its customers at an affordable price, the newly launched Senior Engineers Association Spokesman Eng. Nandika Pathirage said

Pathirage, the ex-President of the powerful Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) told The Island that numbers didn’t matter but what mattered were initiatives for the betterment of the country. He stressed that though they were small in number they had the authority to take strong actions.

“We believe that CEB should be modernised and adopt changes in the energy market to resolve the upcoming energy crisis which is our responsibility as we have the capacity to face such a crisis,” he said

Sri Lanka’s current energy policy focuses more on adding renewable energy to the national grid. Therefore, establishment of a consistent, efficient framework within CEB is more crucial at this point of time while focusing on obtaining maximum support of the knowledgeable and skillful engineers of CEB to implement the national policy, he added.

Pathirage said: “CEB should carry forward with short term, mid-term and long term reforms to address efficiency of the operational framework of CEB and to improve financial position of CEB. Use of modern technology is inevitable to move forward to face the Energy Crisis and adopt a national policy framework”.

Senior Electrical Engineers Union of CEB, President Dr. H. M. Wijekoon Banda, said that a proposal would be made shortly to modernize CEB, to expedite the construction of low cost power plants, to avoid high cost emergency power purchases and to keep electricity tariffs stable for the next five years.

“A major obstacle in implementation of CEB’s plans is limited time available for experienced senior electrical engineers who hold senior positions to continue in the same positions. This becomes a huge hurdle in continuity of such plans and such plans can become inactive in the long run,” Dr. Banda said.

He explained that CEB lost the services of senior electrical engineers with experience in specialized fields when they reached 60 years of age. Although the retirement age for specialists in the medical field was 65 years, veteran engineers were required to retire at the age of 60. “Due to the compulsory retirement requirement, senior electrical engineers will have limited time to work in the posts such as General Manager, Additional General Managers and Deputy General Managers which come under top management categories of the Board. This situation adversely affects the accountability and performance of such positions,” Dr. Banda elaborated.

To continue implementing the long-term generation, transmission and distribution schemes of CEB and service to the customers, a decision should be made quickly to obtain the services of Senior Electrical Engineers for a sufficient period of time, he said adding that it should be noted that Ceylon Electricity Board Act too had provisions for those changes.

Dr. Banda said CEB was having a strength of more than 800 Engineers.  The Senior Engineers Association of CEB also indicated that increasing the retirement age to 61 as an interim solution was prudent at present as Senior Engineers possessed required skills and knowledge to accommodate the national policy and make it a reality.

The CEB Senior Engineers pointed out that the above recommendation of extending retirement age to 61 could be reviewed after one year of implementation to arrive at a permanent solution which could be adopted.

They also said it would minimize the knowledge gap of young engineers as the time would give them the chance to groom young engineers to face upcoming energy challenges. In line with this, the Senior Engineers Association recommends that modernising of organizational structure should be adopted to promote young engineers on experience and seniority.

They stressed that the purchase of emergency power to overcome the power shortage should no longer be a solution. The Association is confident that the above proposals will have a positive impact on maximising the contribution of senior and young engineers to achieve the target of generating 70 percent of renewable energy by 2030 in line with the government policy. The detailed proposal recommended by the Senior Electrical Engineers Union to solve the power crisis is due to be released at the end of November.