10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Kins Nelson

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· Polonnaruwa· 5 May 2026 ·Oral question: Oral Question Q.5 (642/2025): Committees Investigated into Nationwide Power Failure on 09.02.2025

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Kins Nelson asked the Minister about the impact of allegedly inferior coal at the Norochcholai power plant, noting that output had fallen from 810 MW to about 630–690 MW and required increased diesel-based generation. He highlighted the cost difference between diesel and coal generation and requested a clear statement of how much had been spent to date on generating electricity using diesel.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Thank you very much, Hon. Minister. I wish you well. I pray that the fate that befell our former Minister will not befall you.

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, my first supplementary question is this: Hon. Minister, from the Norochcholai power plant we were able to add 810 MW to the national grid. Now, due to the issue of inferior coal, in March this dropped to around 630–690 MW. Because of the inferior coal, we had to generate electricity using diesel. For example, generating one unit of electricity with diesel costs around Rs. 80, whereas with coal it is around Rs. 23. At present, huge quantities of fuel are being used for electricity generation. Accordingly, can you clearly state how much has been spent up to now for generating electricity using diesel?

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Tuesday, 5 May 2026 ·No. 23546 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Permalink
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Cite as: The Hon. Kins Nelson. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 May 2026. No. 23546. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/19723