Sri Lanka lost Rs. 15.765 billion as a result of the recent import of inferior-quality coal, Energy Minister Anura Karunathilake told Parliament on Thursday.
The minister gave the figure during Thursday’s sitting, the Daily Mirror reported in a report by Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera.
Where the money went
Karunathilake broke the cost into two parts.
- The National System Operator (NSO) spent Rs. 8.571 billion buying electricity from alternative sources, to make up the megawatt-hours lost because the coal was of poor quality.
- Electricity Distribution Lanka (Private) Limited (EDL) incurred a further Rs. 7.912 billion, covering the cost of holding additional coal stocks, essential maintenance, and handling fees.
Against that, the government has imposed penalties and withheld performance bonds totalling Rs. 16.989 billion, the minister said. He added that the government has given an assurance that the financial burden arising from the use of inferior-quality coal will not be passed on to electricity consumers.
The figures do not add up as presented
Two arithmetic points in the minister’s own account are worth setting out, because the filing does not address either.
The two components exceed the stated total. Rs. 8.571 billion plus Rs. 7.912 billion is Rs. 16.483 billion — about Rs. 718 million more than the Rs. 15.765 billion the minister gave as the total loss. The report does not say whether some recovery or offset has been netted off the headline figure, whether one of the component numbers covers a different period, or whether a figure has been misstated. On the published account the discrepancy is unexplained.
The recoveries are larger than the loss. The Rs. 16.989 billion withheld in penalties and performance bonds is about Rs. 1.224 billion more than the Rs. 15.765 billion loss. If both figures hold and the full amount withheld is ultimately retained, the state would recover more than it lost. The minister did not draw that comparison, and the filing does not say how much of the Rs. 16.989 billion is settled rather than disputed, or whether suppliers are contesting it.
These are observations about the figures as reported, not a finding that any of them is wrong.
Context
The disclosure is the latest in a long-running dispute over coal bought for the Norochcholai power station. A Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Coal Procurement has been examining the purchases; at the end of September it issued notices to 18 people, including former Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody, with responses due by 9 October and the commission’s term due to conclude on 16 October. Karunathilake is Jayakody’s successor in the energy portfolio.
The quality dispute has been visible in operations for months. In September the plant was running on reduced generation as stocks fell, and the minister said at the time that hydropower was covering the gap and no power cuts were needed; a replacement cargo of 60,000 tonnes arrived at Puttalam on the IVS TRADER after an earlier consignment was rejected.
A separate and older matter is also before the commission: a special audit found that a rewritten 2015 supply contract cost the country about US$1.58 million after sulphur and ash limits were relaxed post-bidding. That concerns contracts from a decade ago and is not the same as the recent shipments Thursday’s figures cover.
Not reported
The filing does not name the supplier, say how many shipments the Rs. 15.765 billion covers, or give the period over which the loss was incurred. It does not say how the NSO’s Rs. 8.571 billion in replacement power was generated or bought, or at what unit cost, and it does not explain how the EDL’s Rs. 7.912 billion divides between stockholding, maintenance and handling.
It does not state whether the Rs. 16.989 billion withheld has been finally retained or remains subject to challenge, whether any supplier has gone to arbitration or court, or when the matter is expected to be resolved. No opposition response to the figures is reported, and the minister is not quoted directly. This desk could not find a filing on the same statement from any other verified newsroom at the time of writing.
A note on the minister’s name
This desk’s earlier reporting has rendered the Energy Minister’s surname both as Karunathilaka and as Karunathilake. The Daily Mirror uses Karunathilake in this filing and that spelling is used here. The two refer to the same official.
