‘Lucrative emergency power purchases planned again’

Electricity Consumers’ Association alleges combined bid to justify move

By Anuradha Hiripitiyage

Secretary of the Electricity Consumers’ Association, Sanjeewa Dhammika, yesterday (01) alleged that Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera and Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera were making a case for emergency power purchases.

Addressing the media in Colombo, Dhammika said that public declarations by the two ministers on the water level in the Samanalawewa reservoir on Monday was meant to pave the way for a lucrative power purchasing project.

Minister Wijesekera claimed that the water level had receded to such an extent that water couldn’t be released for agriculture purposes, as required, unless power cuts were imposed in the South. Minister Amaraweera warned that water should be made available to farmers, regardless of consequences as a drop in paddy yield could be devastating in view of the ban on Indian rice exports.

Alleging that the government had never evinced any interest in building smaller, low-cost power plants, Dhammika said that the interested parties were bent on buying costly power from the private sector. Dhammika alleged that since 2016, every Power Minister had resorted to emergency purchases at a tremendous cost to the consumers, and the current dispensation was no exception. Dhammika said that the warning issued by Minister Wijesekera that power cuts lasting up to four to five hours would have to be imposed in five districts, was meant to justify their despicable project.

In case the government went ahead with emergency power purchases, the electricity rates would go up again, he warned.