The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is set to decide today (10) whether power cuts will be necessary, as the Norochcholai coal power plant remains disconnected from the national grid.

A special discussion will take place to assess the electricity supply following the island-wide power outage that occurred yesterday (9) at approximately 11.15 a.m., linked to an incident at the Panadura grid substation.

Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody attributed the outage to an accident caused by a monkey entering the substation. However, the CEB explained that the incident disrupted the power system, triggering the widespread blackout.

Although electricity was fully restored by 6.00 p.m., all three generators at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant were automatically disconnected, leading to a loss of 900 megawatts. The CEB resorted to thermal power plants to meet the shortfall, restoring power by 9.45 p.m.

The CEB estimates it will take four days to restart the Norochcholai generators. Today’s meeting will focus on managing electricity demand and preventing potential power cuts during this period.

Meanwhile, Minister Jayakody blamed past government policies for the lack of a proper system to balance the national power supply, criticising previous administrations for unplanned and short-sighted energy strategies.