Last month CEB employees were sent letters moving them to four new companies, a key step in ongoing power reforms. They have two months to accept their new appointments, or take a resignation package. Trade unions launched go-slows in response.
Unions accuse the government of haphazard communications, leaving them in the dark. “They told us that we will get details about the structure of the successor companies, transition plans, and HR policies on August 26th,” said Isuru Kasthurirathne, the spokesman of the CEB Engineers Union. “Nearly a month has passed and we still don’t have it.”
The origin of these problems is recent power sector reforms. CEB restructuring has been on the agenda for decades. The 2022 power cuts and price hikes that followed cast a spotlight on the issue. In 2024, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government passed a law that would unbundle the CEB, breaking it into several companies. The law placed timelines on this restructuring. When the NPP government came into power they decided to go through with the restructuring, albeit with amendments.
But the 2024 act’s timelines remain in place. Now the CEB, energy ministry and Power Sector Reform Secretariat are scrambling to fulfill these legally binding deadlines.
This is why letters assigning CEB employees to the new companies were rushed out on 27th August. “We are pleased to assign you to the company referred to as the "[Company Name]" incorporated in terms of the section 17 of the Electricity Act,” reads the letter with no further details. A clarificatory notice added that the transfer would take place on “not less favourable terms” than their current employment. But Kasthurirathne says this is not enough. “The assignment letter is the legally binding document,” he said. “We demand that they reissue it with the terms of employment clearly stated.”
There are over 32 active CEB unions. Some are general unions representing all levels of workers, while others are specifically for engineers or technicians. Many are affiliated with political parties, but the dominant CEB Engineer’s Union is not. JVP-affiliated unions did not take part in the ongoing agitation.
Besides worries about maintaining salaries, benefits, and roles, agitating unions are also displeased with the voluntary retirement package, known as the VRS. The VRS, a measure to cut-down staff, offers retiring employees several months’ salary depending on seniority, with a cap of five million rupees.
The CEB has over 21 thousand employees. Proponents of restructuring consider this overkill. In August, The Sunday Times reported on the wide variety of benefits granted to CEB employees, including for “correct meter reading” and “implementing the language policy”. Critics argue the labour system disincentivises efficiency. “Even an HR manager has to be an engineer,” said Vidhura Ralapanawe, an energy consultant and vocal proponent of reforms. “The unions have normalised the most inefficient work as the standard.” According to industry experts, the CEB’s management team, including non-engineering roles, are staffed by engineers. Specialists with other skills are not hired, often resulting in lapses, for example in accounting and finance.
But Tilak Siyambalapitiya, the former CEB chairman, has a slightly different diagnosis. He acknowledges that labour inefficiencies exist and supports restructuring, but pins the blame primarily on politicisation and state intrusion. Siyambalapitiya believes in CEB restructuring because successor companies are governed by a corporate structure, improving independence from government bureaucracy — not because it provides an opportunity for culling staff. “Besides, salaries account for only 8% of total costs.”
