Ceylon Electricity Board

CEB has following subsidiaries{{cite web |last1=CEB |title=Home |url=http://www.ceb.lk/index.php?aam_media=21128 |website=CEB Annual report |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=10 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180610233539/http://www.ceb.lk/index.php?aam_media=21128 |url-status=live }}

• Lanka Electricity Company
• LTL Holdings (Pvt) Ltd
• Lanka Coal Company Ltd
• Sri Lanka Energies (Pvt) Ltd (100% subsidiary of CEB)
• Trincomalee Power Company Limited (Joint Venture)

Electricity generation by CEB is primarily done by hydropower. Hydropower is the oldest and most dependent source of electricity generation, taking a share of nearly 42% of the total available grid capacity in December 2014, and 37% of the power generated in 2014.{{cite web

| url=https://www.ceb.lk/sub/knowledge/demandside.html

| title=Demand Side Management - Ceylon Electricity Board

| access-date=20 September 2014

| url-status=dead

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140923110857/http://www.ceb.lk/sub/knowledge/demandside.html

| archive-date=23 September 2014

| df=dmy-all

}} Hydropower generation facilities have been constantly under development since the introduction of the national grid but are currently declining due to the exhaustion of the resource.

In 2014, then Media Spokesperson at the CEB, Senajith Dassanayake said the generation of hydropower has dropped to 37%; as a result, 60 percent of the electricity needs have to be fulfilled by thermal energy.{{cite web| url = http://newsfirst.lk/english/2014/09/decrease-generation-hydro-power-ceb-observes/51782| title = Generation of hydro-power has decreased – observes CEB| date = 2 September 2014| access-date = 19 September 2014| archive-date = 3 September 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140903155817/http://newsfirst.lk/english/2014/09/decrease-generation-hydro-power-ceb-observes/51782| url-status = dead}}

The Norocholai Coal Power Station, the only coal-fired power station in the country is owned by CEB; it was commissioned in late-2011 and finished in 2014, under loans from the Export-Import Bank of China. It added further {{Nowrap|300 megawatts}} of electrical capacity to the grid.{{Citation|title=No more coal plants|url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/news/front-page-news/17129.html|access-date=8 August 2010}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The Sampur Coal Power Station, is currently under consideration in Trincomalee.{{Citation|title=Ministry: Current energy projects|url=http://www.mope.gov.lk/uploads/project/projecten.pdf|access-date=7 August 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711091513/http://www.mope.gov.lk/uploads/project/projecten.pdf|archive-date=11 July 2009|df=dmy-all}}

In 2011, the Ceylon Electricity Board opened a new coal power plant named Puttalam Lakvijaya. On 13 February 2011 it was synchronized with the system.{{cite web

| url=http://www.ceb.lk/sub/publications/annual.aspx

| title=CEB Annual Financial Statement,2011

| access-date=19 September 2014

| url-status=dead

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904021132/http://www.ceb.lk/sub/publications/annual.aspx

| archive-date=4 September 2014

| df=dmy-all

}}

On 17 September 2014, US$1.35 billion coal-fired Norochcholai Power Station was commissioned by the Chinese President Xi Jinping on his visit to Sri Lanka. The Export-Import Bank of China provided a US$450 million loan for the first 300-megawatt unit at the power plant. The power plant was officially commenced on 16 September 2014.

CEB launched Sri Lanka's largest wind farm Thambapavani added to the national grid. The project started in 2014. Power station generate more than 100 MW.{{Cite web|date=2020-12-08|title=Sri Lanka's largest Wind Power Farm 'Thambapavani' added to the National Grid|url=https://www.newsfirst.lk/2020/12/08/sri-lankas-largest-wind-power-farm-thambapavani-added-to-the-national-grid/|access-date=2020-12-23|website=Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst|language=en|archive-date=19 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219120839/https://www.newsfirst.lk/2020/12/08/sri-lankas-largest-wind-power-farm-thambapavani-added-to-the-national-grid/|url-status=live}}{{Pie chart|caption=Electricity generation by source{{Cite web |url = https://ceb.lk/electricity-generated/en |title = CEB Electricity generation by source |website = www.ceb.lk |publisher = Ceylon Electricity Board |access-date = December 8, 2022 |archive-date = 6 November 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201106111239/https://ceb.lk/electricity-generated/en |url-status = live }}|color1=#a3401c|color2=#e8f002|color3=#169df7|color4=#20db16|label1=Coal|label2=Oil|label3=Hydropower|label4=Wind|thumb=right|value1=43.18|value2=8.47|value3=47.32|value4=2.7}}

• In October 2010, during a test run, a fire broke out in the chimney due to clogging. Splits in the cooling system piping triggered a shutdown of the power plant. The Ceylon Electricity Board decided to institute blackouts for households and industries for three hours a day until the fault was fully repaired.{{cite web| url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-burton/a-new-coal-plant-the-coal_b_5821386.html| title = A New Coal Power Station the Coal Industry Won't Boast About| website = HuffPost| date = 15 September 2014| access-date = 19 September 2014| archive-date = 17 September 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140917060006/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-burton/a-new-coal-plant-the-coal_b_5821386.html| url-status = live}}
• In December 2013, more leaks were discovered in the cooling system, and the CEB decided that the plant was too dangerous to operate at the moment. The CEB requested assistance from CMEC, and the company said that it would take about six weeks to fix the faults. After negotiations, the plant was repaired by CMEC and brought back online. A day later it failed once more and was shut down again for six more days.
• In 2014, then Minister of Power and Energy, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, revealed that the Norochcholai power plant had been offline for 271 days out of the 1086 days since it had been operating.
• On 25 February 2016, the entire country of Sri Lanka experienced a 3-hour blackout due to a bolt of lightning striking the national power grid.{{cite web|title=Sri Lanka suffers hours-long power blackout|url=http://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2016/02/25/sri-lanka-suffers-hours-long-power-blackout/|publisher=The Star Malaysia, 25 February 2016|access-date=26 February 2016|archive-date=26 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160226123522/http://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2016/02/25/sri-lanka-suffers-hours-long-power-blackout/|url-status=live}}
• On 13 March 2016, Sri Lanka experienced another 7-hour island-wide blackout due to a damaged transformer in the 220 kV substation at Biyagama. It is considered to be the worst nationwide power outage in 20 years. Ex-prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed a five-member committee to investigate the blackout. Due to initial suspicions of sabotage, Ex-president Maithripala Sirisena deployed troops to guard electrical installations until the investigation was completed. The CEB also reported that the outage caused Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant to fail, resulting in a loss of 900 Mega Watts to the National Grid.{{cite web|title=Sri Lanka suffers hours-long power blackout|url=http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sri-lanka-faces-nationwide-power-blackout-water-supply-affected-1286773|publisher=NDTV, 13 March 2016|access-date=13 March 2016|archive-date=13 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313190458/http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sri-lanka-faces-nationwide-power-blackout-water-supply-affected-1286773|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Norochcholai out of action; power cuts to continue|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/97983/update-norochcholai-out-of-action-power-cuts-to-continue|publisher=Times Online|access-date=14 March 2016|archive-date=14 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314072422/http://www.sundaytimes.lk/97983/update-norochcholai-out-of-action-power-cuts-to-continue|url-status=dead}} On March 23, 2016, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya notified parliament that the reason for the power outage was a lack of regular maintenance of power installations.{{cite web|title=Cause for power failures in Sri Lanka is lack of regular maintenance - Minister|url=http://www.colombopage.com/archive_16A/Mar23_1458754361CH.php|publisher=ColomboPage News Desk, 23 March 2016|access-date=2 May 2016|archive-date=7 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507183355/http://www.colombopage.com/archive_16A/Mar23_1458754361CH.php|url-status=dead}} The engineer in charge of the Biyagama Substation had previously reported that a key transformer needed maintenance; however, no repairs were made.{{cite web|title=Biyagama CE warned CEB often|url=http://lankalightnews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/biyagama-ce-warned-ceb-often.html|publisher=Ceylon Today, 17 March 2016|access-date=2 May 2016|format=PDF|archive-date=1 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601213757/http://lankalightnews.blogspot.ca/2016/03/biyagama-ce-warned-ceb-often.html|url-status=live}}

{{Main|2019 Sri Lanka electricity crisis}}

• In March 2019, the CEB decided to impose four-hour rolling power cut on a scheduled basis throughout Sri Lanka after the national grid capacity failed to meet the increased demand for power due to dry climate, and due to limited power generation.{{cite web |title=Drought, failure to raise power capacity force nationwide power cuts |url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/Drought--failure-to-raise-power-capacity-force-nationwide-power-cuts/273-164584 |access-date=1 April 2019 |archive-date=1 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401104000/http://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/Drought--failure-to-raise-power-capacity-force-nationwide-power-cuts/273-164584 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Load Shedding |url=https://www.ceb.lk/Load_shedding_2019.pdf |access-date=1 April 2019 |work=Ceylon Electricity Board |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331191839/https://www.ceb.lk/Load_shedding_2019.pdf |archive-date=31 March 2019 |url-status=dead }}

Ceylon Electricity Board has lost 25.5 billion rupees in 2011, and run up debts of 121 billion rupees with a petroleum distributor{{who|date=March 2015}} and independent power producers.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509110822/http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lanka-ceb-loses-rs25.5bn%2C-debts-balloon/299306085|url=http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lanka-ceb-loses-rs25.5bn,-debts-balloon/299306085|title=Sri Lanka CEB loses rs25.5bn|access-date=18 September 2014|archive-date=9 May 2015|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}

In 2012, the CEB lost 61.2 billion rupees and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation which supplied fuel below cost 89.7 billion rupees. To cover up the loss, the CEB increased power tariffs on a large scale. The CEB expected to get revenues of 223 billion rupees—or 45 billion rupees more than the earlier tariff—from the price hike, but subsequently lost 33 billion rupees in 2013 on total expenses of 256 billion rupees.{{cite web |url=http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lanka-power-tariffs-raised---update/810023884|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713023305/http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lanka-power-tariffs-raised---update/810023884|title = Sri Lanka power tariffs raised - Update |access-date = 20 September 2014|archive-date=13 July 2014}}

On 16 September 2014, after officially opening a completed $1.35 billion Chinese-financed 900 MW coal power plant project, Sri Lankan President at the time, Mahinda Rajapaksa addressed the nation saying that the electricity bills of the people will be reduced by 25%.{{cite news| url = http://uk.reuters.com/article/sri-lanka-economy-china-idUKL3N0RH4SO20140916| title = Sri Lanka cuts energy price after start of Chinese-funded coal power plant| newspaper = Reuters| date = 16 September 2014| access-date = 20 September 2014| archive-date = 7 March 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160307033243/http://uk.reuters.com/article/sri-lanka-economy-china-idUKL3N0RH4SO20140916| url-status = dead}} The CEB stated that it will take about two weeks to come up with a process of creating electricity bills to reflect the reduction in prices.{{cite web| url = http://newsfirst.lk/english/2014/09/two-weeks-will-take-come-process-creating-electricity-bills-reflect-reduction-ceb/53990| title = CEB says electricity bill reduction will not reflect immediately| date = 17 September 2014| access-date = 20 September 2014| archive-date = 22 September 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140922115758/http://newsfirst.lk/english/2014/09/two-weeks-will-take-come-process-creating-electricity-bills-reflect-reduction-ceb/53990| url-status = dead}}

The CEB has been accused of Tax fraud by the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), which has claimed that CEB has not deducted PAYE from its engineers and senior staff since 2010 amounting to Rs. 3465 million. CaFFE has claimed that this amount has been recovered from the consumer instead.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/PAYE-tax-owed-by-CEB-employees-recovered-from-consumers-CaFFE-150124.html |title=PAYE tax owed by CEB employees recovered from consumers: CaFFE |access-date=20 May 2018 |archive-date=20 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520124421/http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/PAYE-tax-owed-by-CEB-employees-recovered-from-consumers-CaFFE-150124.html |url-status=live }}

A restructuring committee was appointed as per the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to submit proposals to restructure the CEB within a month. Committee members consisted of former and current administrative officers of the Sri Lankan Government Service.{{Cite web |first= |date=2022-08-07 |title=Ceylon Electricity Board Restructuring Committee is entrusted with the responsibilities |url=https://www.buzzer.lk/ceylon-electricity-board-restructuring-committee-is-entrusted-with-the-responsibilities/ |access-date=2022-08-11 |language=en-US |archive-date=11 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811120851/https://www.buzzer.lk/ceylon-electricity-board-restructuring-committee-is-entrusted-with-the-responsibilities/ |url-status=live }}

• Electricity sector in Sri Lanka
• India Sri Lanka HVDC Interconnection
• List of power stations in Sri Lanka

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.ceb.lk/}}
• {{Official facebook page|ceylonelectricityboard/}}

{{Electricity in Sri Lanka}}

{{Economy of Sri Lanka}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}

Category:Electric power companies of Sri Lanka

Category:State owned commercial corporations of Sri Lanka

Category:Public utilities of Sri Lanka

Category:Sri Lankan companies established in 1969

Category:Energy companies established in 1969

Category:Public utilities established in 1969