Uninterrupted power supply to industries - minister

The small and medium scale industries have a major role to play in the country's economy and strengthening those industries while providing their needs and other facilities is a must, Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said.

The Power and Energy Ministry is considering the installation of power plants exclusively for industrial and Export Processing Zones and according to the minister such a move would resolve the rapidly increasing demand for power. It will assist in minimizing the burden on the national grid as well.

The Minister speaking at a meeting with Western Province industrialists at the Western Provincial Industrial Development Authority said the ministry was aware of a certain degree of disruption to power supply for the industrial sector in the Western Province.

About 80 percent of the country's industries are based in the Western Province and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Co.(Pvt) Ltd. (LECO) had given priority to supply uninterrupted power to all those industries, the minister added.

"Measures will be taken in the near future to install power plants in those Industrial Parks and we have allocated Rs 3,000 million for installing three phase power supply and to repair transformers.

According to the minister they have introduced the net metering system to reduce power bills and the ministry is looking forward to introducing electronic meters in the near future.

The ministry will also introduce smart meters next year and all those systems will help the industrialists to reduce their electricity bills.

RD