• Hearing to counter CEB expert comm. report findings 

The public hearing organised by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) regarding the islandwide power outage on 9 February is scheduled to be held next month (June).

Disagreeing with the findings of the expert committee report forwarded by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) on the 9 February islandwide power outage, the PUCSL stated recently that they had decided to hold a public hearing to conduct a fresh and comprehensive investigation into the incident.

When queried by The Daily Morning as to whether the planned public hearing would be held any time soon, the PUCSL's Director of Communications, Jayanat Herat said that it would be held in June.

Section 18 of the PUCSL Act states: "The Commission may, in discharging the functions assigned to it by or under this Act or any other industry Act, and where it deems necessary in the public interest, hold a public hearing in order to investigate or determine any matter."

The CEB announced on 23 April that it had forwarded the expert committee’s report on the 9 February blackout to the PUCSL for review. According to that report, the nationwide blackout was primarily caused by low system inertia — resulting from an unusually high solar power contribution — leading to low grid stability. However, after studying the report, the PUCSL stated that they were of the view that a more comprehensive process was necessary to investigate the incident.