• NCE surveys members on losses

The ongoing power cuts are likely to hurt the country’s exports, with factory production coming to a standstill whenever supply is interrupted, the National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) has warned. 

“The scheduled power cuts will have a negative impact on exports, especially on factories, because some are operating extended hours to meet demand. Production will come to a halt whenever there is a power cut,” NCE Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General Shiham Marikar told The Sunday Morning Business.

The warning follows a nationwide electricity blackout on 17 October after the national grid tripped, after which the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) approved scheduled power cuts across the island from 19 to 21 October, with the country divided into four groups, each facing a one-hour daily interruption between 4.30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Marikar said that the chamber was yet to quantify the losses, having written to its members seeking details of how the outages had affected their operations.

“There will be a negative impact. That’s what some of our members have told me,” he said, adding that the NCE had not yet finalised its policy requests to the National System Operator (NSO), the Ministry of Energy, and the Treasury.

The chamber, which conducts a quick questionnaire among its members once every two weeks, expects to have a clearer picture of the impact on production and export deadlines next week.