CEB abolished after 56 years; Six new power companies take over

2026-03-09 - 05:38

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) was officially abolished at midnight on March 8, 2026, and from today (March 9) its functions will be carried out by six newly established companies under a major restructuring of Sri Lanka’s electricity sector. The change comes into effect under the provisions of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 36 of 2024 and an extraordinary gazette issued recently. With the implementation of the new law from today, most of its provisions have taken effect, leading to the complete restructuring of the country’s electricity administration. As part of this process, the Ceylon Electricity Board Act No. 17 of 1969 has been repealed, resulting in the legal dissolution of the CEB as an institutional entity. The board, which had been responsible for Sri Lanka’s electricity sector for decades, officially ceased operations at midnight yesterday. The CEB was originally established on November 1, 1969 under the Ceylon Electricity Board Act No. 17 of 1969, and it served as the main institution responsible for electricity generation, transmission and distribution in Sri Lanka for more than five decades. Following the abolition of the CEB, all operational responsibilities previously handled by the board including electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and system operations will now be transferred to six newly formed companies. The Minister of Energy recently issued a special gazette notification to formalize this transition. The six companies established to take over the functions of the former CEB are: Electricity Generation Lanka (Pvt) Ltd National Transmission Network Service Provider (Pvt) Ltd National System Operator (Pvt) Ltd Electricity Distribution Lanka (Pvt) Ltd Employees’ Fund (Pvt) Ltd Energy Ventures Lanka (Pvt) Ltd According to the gazette, regulatory measures have been introduced to ensure that each of the key functions in the electricity sector is assigned to one of these new entities. Meanwhile, steps have already been taken to appoint General Managers to three of the six companies. Engineer N. G. Saliya Panditharatne has been appointed as the General Manager of Electricity Generation Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Engineer N. S. Wettasinghe as the General Manager of National Transmission Network Service Provider (Pvt) Ltd, and Engineer K. S. I. Kumara as the General Manager of Electricity Distribution Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. Authorities say the new structure will ensure that the responsibilities previously handled by the CEB continue without interruption under the newly created companies.