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Lanka extends daily power cuts

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's state-owned electricty utility said on Tuesday it is extending daily four-hour power cuts to five hours as water levels in the country's hydro-power reservoirs sink.

The Ceylon Electricity Board said the move was prompted by consumers adjusting their electricity use around power cut hours instead of trying to save energy.

"If allowed to continue (this) could lead to complete blackouts before the end of April", the board said in a statement.

It also said it had received a number of requests from the public to extend the date for granting concessions for importing generators.

"It has now been decided that all those who have opened letters of credit between February 1 and March 31 would be entitled to duty-free concessions," it said.

The board introduced the power cuts after the failure of monsoon rains.

The monsoon, which usually brings enough rain to fill the island's hydro-reservoirs, was expected to break over Sri Lanka around May 20, Jayatilaka Banda, deputy chief of the Meteorology Department, said last week.-REuter