Sri Lanka announces daily island-wide power cuts in tourist-popular areas

The new power cuts risk the revival of tourism on Sri Lanka’s southwestern beaches during its peak winter season, just as visitors have begun to return to the island since the Covid-19 pandemic broke.

Sri Lanka has announced daily island-wide power cuts, including for as long as three hours in southern areas popular with tourists.

The South Asian nation has been imposing electricity curbs over the recent weeks amid a raft of challenges to its energy supply, including repairs on a key coal-power plant, low hydropower generation amid depleted reservoir levels and dwindling foreign exchange reserves that have limited diesel imports.

“Long power cuts are a serious issue for the economy,” Janaka Ratnayake, chairman of Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, said in a phone interview Monday. “This will affect the life of every person in the country and have economic repercussions.”

The new power cuts risk the revival of tourism on Sri Lanka’s southwestern beaches during its peak winter season, just as visitors have begun to return to the island since the pandemic broke.

A hit to the sector, which contributed to about 5% of the economy before Covid-19, may also mar plans to bolster the nation’s finances amid payments for costlier imports and dollar debt obligations, which have led to concerns of a sovereign default.

Following requests from the Ceylon Electricity Board, the regulator plans to approve one hour of load shedding island-wide starting from about 4:30 pm today, while for the southern grid, the cut will be for three hours, Ratnayake said on Monday.

“External support will be needed. We are looking at neighboring countries and friendly countries,” Ratnayake added.