The Hon. D.V. Chanaka

¶ 01 Thank you for the opportunity. The Power and Energy Ministry can make and unmake governments. When Hon. Kanchana Wijesekera became Minister—while I was State Minister—he eliminated power cuts and fuel queues within two months, despite greater dollar spending during the height of queues. It was management that solved it.

¶ 02 Yesterday, Hon. Nalinda Jayatissa said there is a “man-made” fuel problem now and not a real shortage. I previously said there was enough fuel. The issue arose because a court decision during our time (not now) was not implemented—allegedly because some Ministers owned filling stations. To clarify: this was a COPE recommendation about recovering Rs. 37 billion paid above an upper cap margin (3%). CPC won in District Court; the industry went to the Court of Appeal, and a writ stayed it. The judgment came on 8 September—about 12–13 days before the presidential election. Minister Wijesekera recommended recovery immediately thereafter. We protected no station, ministerial or otherwise.

¶ 03 In the last two years, we made no political appointments—though we could have made 8,000 in CEB and 2,000 in CPC; we did not.

¶ 04 On the “monkey” incident: even if an animal triggered a disturbance, the CEB media release listed concurrent outages—about 800 MW of solar, 470 MW at Lakvijaya, 130 MW of hydro—contributing. It would have been better not to emphasize the animal angle, as global media then frame Sri Lanka poorly for investments.

¶ 05 On solar for temples: through an Indian credit line we tendered, selected a company, and delivered 5 kW systems to 5,000 religious sites. They have been installed for three months, but CEB has not connected them. In Hambantota, chief incumbents say systems are installed but not energized, losing savings for temples and value for CEB. Please clarify why connections are delayed.

¶ 06 When we took over, CPC had a Rs. 360 billion loss, while a private company made Rs. 36 billion profit. Within a year, CPC recorded Rs. 110 billion profit and that private firm’s profit fell to Rs. 12 billion—by fixing systems. With no LCs and 25 years of demurrage payments, we introduced a storage modality: discharge first, then pay daily or every three days—reducing premiums from 3–4% to 2–3% without LCs and eliminating demurrage.

¶ 07 On Trincomalee tanks: President Anura Kumara Dissanayake earlier opposed handovers, but after talks in India proposed giving 10 tanks to IOC, 24 to CPC, and forming a new joint company for the rest. In 2023 we began refurbishing 24 CPC tanks; work on several is nearly done. For TPTL’s 60 tanks, we called EoIs in October 2024; seven companies responded; RFPs are now being issued. On Hambantota refinery: this came from an EoI/101 call we made in 2023. Seven companies responded; two shortlisted; RFPs issued; negotiations led to Sinopec. The request for Strategic Development Project (SDP) status conflicted with IMF positions and with our EoI/RFP conditions; to avoid legal risk, we negotiated BOI Act Section 16/17 options instead.

¶ 08 On grid balancing: last year Sri Lanka produced a record 600 MW from solar at times; with 1,400 MW installed, Sundays create balancing issues. If we set a tariff for solar-plus-batteries, private investors can immediately install storage and hybrid inverters to firm up supply without state capex. Coal unit cost is around Rs. 21 per kWh at plant, but all-in unit costs reach around Rs. 218; solar PPA rates about Rs. 19.8, and adding batteries may add Rs. 20–25—still competitive as firm power. Household storage investments are one-off, unlike perpetual coal imports. A good battery tariff would solve grid and forex issues.