Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila says that power cuts will be inevitable in mid-February or early March.
“As a cabinet minister, I have to explain the situation. Electricity demand in Sri Lanka increases by 8% every year. Therefore, the government should always add new power plants to the national grid to meet the demand. But unfortunately no new power plants have been added since 2014.
With the dry season, which usually lasts from January to April, our electricity generation is largely dependent on thermal power plants. At present even thermal power plants cannot supply the entire electricity demand of the country. If we look at the data, by November 65% of the total electricity generation in the country was supplied by hydropower. Now, this has been reduced to 25%.
Therefore, I predict that there will be power cuts in early March or mid – February. ”
Minister Udaya Gammanpila had stated this while expressing his views to a foreign news service.