No sign of an end to CEB turmoil with CEBEU and new CEBSEA locking horns

By Ifham Nizam

Secretary to the President Dr. P.B. Jayasundera yesterday assured the Ceylon Electricity Board Senior Engineers’ Association (CEBSEA) that he would take up recent blackouts and alleged sinister moves by the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union (CEBEU) with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press briefing at the Taj Samudra yesterday, CEBSEA Executive Committee Member Nandika Pathirage told The Island that the CEBEU wanted CEB Chairman M.M.C. Ferdinando and CEB General Manager M.R. Ranatunga removed from their posts as they were keen to have Friday’s countrywide blackout probed thoroughly.

Pathirage also alleged that a senior official was trying to shield the CEBEU as regards the ongoing investigations by the Criminal Investigations Department. “We brought this to the notice of Dr. Jayasundera,” Pathirage added.

It was a clear case of sabotage that caused the countrywide blackout experienced on December 3, a senior Power Ministry official said, adding that initial investigations had revealed attempts by some elements to cripple the Biyagama-Kottawa line as well.

The Island learns that both sub grids were guarded by the police, and therefore it should be clear for the Ceylon Electricity Board top management and the Police Department who the culprits are.

Another expert said there couldn’t have been some same type of tripping on two days causing total failure. “The whole system may need checking the protection system may need proper setting if this was not a sabotage,” he added.

Another Independent Energy Expert said, on 29 Nov, both circuits of the Kotmale-Biyagama transmission line had tripped.

“This led to a partial blackout. This was like a rehearsal for Friday’s outage.

Due to the high rainfall, Mahaweli reservoirs are generating a high amount of electricity, and most of them are linked to this 220kV line (Upper Kotmale, Kotmale, Victoria, Randenigala and Rantembe total 760 MW),” he added.

Due to the work-to-rule, and the engineers’ non-cooperation with the CEB GM, the report on what happened has not been properly studied and released to the regulator, the Public Utilities Commission, according to sources.

The same line tripped, this time taking the whole grid down with it. The Under Frequency Load Shedding (UFLS) that tripped on 29 Nov. could not manage the situation on 03 Dec.

Both the events happened during a work-to-rule campaign of CEBEU.