Hon. Ravi Karunanayake

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I ask the following Questions from the Hon. Minister of Energy:

¶ 02 1. What were the root causes of the recent power failure and how did the monkey incident at the Panadura Substation contribute to that outage? Is this the first time an animal had caused a nationwide blackout? 2. What measures were taken to restore power, mitigate disruptions of this essential service and why did it take approximately six hours to fully restore electricity across the country? 3. What steps are being taken to prevent such widespread power failures in the future and what is the timeline for implementing those measures? 4. Could the Hon. Minister confirm whether there were any prior warnings or indicators of a potential grid instability, which were overlooked? 5. What is the estimated economic impact of this power outage on businesses and households and what compensation, if any, is being considered for those affected? 6. Is there any indication of negligence, technical failure or sabotage and if so, will there be any independent inquiry into the matter? 7. What is the average cost of generation at the CEB in the last three months and is the entity pursuing a cost-reflective policy as of today?

¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, I am disappointed that the Hon. Minister concerned is not here to answer a very important incident that happened ten days ago. Normally, Ministers have maintained discipline in answering these Questions.