Power-cuts on the sly because of hydro-power shortage problem
As a result of hydro-power capacity shortage and problems connected to Norochchola Power Plant, power disruptions for an hour, half an hour and 15 minutes etcetera had been effected on the sly around the country unknown to the public, it was revealed. This power disruption was not effected after
notifying the public and after such action it had continued in that same fashion and the Board has taken steps to avoid informing the media or the public either. As a consequence of this, the public had to face inconveniences from time to time both during daytime and night during the recent past. It was shortcomings of Norochchola Power Plant and dry weather which were prevalent during the said days which contributed towards this situation.What the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers' Association informed was that since the water capacity has dropped 31.4% the production of hydro-power has dropped by 12% while electricity production has dropped down to 34% as a consequence of maintenance activity of a generator of Norochchola Power Plant.
Due to the weather conditions of excessive heat seen these days the demand of 38 million units of electricity during daytime has gone up by 18.4% upto 45 million units. In the same way, a demand of 2470 megawatts during nighttime has gone up by 10%, it is reported. For this very reason, it has been announced that generators producing electricity available in factories be compulsorily activated from 2nd Tuesday in May. Even if a clandestine disruption of power supply is to be effected for domestic consumers, such a time-table has still not been announced as such.