Electricity law amended amid opposition concerns

Sri Lanka’s parliament passed an amendment to the island’s new electricity law that was expected to break up the sector in line with a plan supported by multilateral lenders, which would also attract new private investment.

The changes will keep parts of the existing system 100 percent under Government ownership permanently, Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody said.

The National People’s Power administration had a plan for the sector before they were elected, and there were eight months of discussions, after which some changes had been made, but some suggestions the government could not agree to, due to a ‘covenant’ with the people he said.

Sri Lanka had ‘missed buses’ in the past where low cost generating plants in the CEB, long term generation plan had been systematically sabotaged by various parties forcing the entity to buy high-cost liquid fuel plants by the 1990s, including gas turbines, he said.

Coal has been scuttled when the so-called ‘coal window’ existed, some large hydro plants – such as the Upper Kotmale which was a cheap renewable initiated by the CEB after the Mahaweli project – had been blocked for long periods by both political elements and environmentalists, at times.

The CEB at one time had 100 percent cheap renewable system built under its own plans until opposition to the cheapest plants began.