Selected Organization

: Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB)

Employee contacted

: MrJaliya. AreaEngineer, Gampaha Branch Office.

Back ground
Ceylon electricity board (CEB) is the largest organization in the electricity
sector. It is the one and only company which have the authority on electricity
generation, transmission and distribution. CEB was founded in 1969 officially.
But in 1927 the Department of Government Electrical Undertakings, now called
the Ceylon Electricity Board, took over the transmission of electricity throughout
the country. The vision and the mission of CEB are;
The Vision
Enrich Life Through Power.

The Mission
To develop and maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical system of electricity supply
the whole of
Sri Lanka, while adhering to our core values.
Quality
Service to the nation
Efficiency and effectiveness
Commitment
Safety
Professionalism
Sustainability

As the vision statement indicates CEB was initiated purely for the purpose
of supplying quality power to the general public. If any private organization
willing to generate power, they cant sell power directly to the consumer. Private
power produces should negotiate a reasonable pricing structure with CEB that
would be purchased by CEB. This procedure is done to regulate the power
industries that monopolize the market where customers will be the victims.
The public Utilities commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) is therefore formed in order
to regulate the practices and performance of CEB. PUCSL will always monitor
CEB when making managerial decisions on purchasing, procurement, policy on
rural electrification priorities and even Tariff making to reduce political
interferences. This will always ensure that the general public is enjoying an
unbiased service from the utility.
Another subside of CEB is LTL Holding (Pvt) ltd. This company if formed to
supply locally manufactured electric units (Eg: Transformers) and to handle
major projects for CEB. Moreover there are many power generation stations
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operated by LTL Holdings called IPP (Independent power producers). This

company handles overseas projects as well.

Organizational Structure of CEB

AGM Generation
Secretary to the board

AGM Transmission
AGM Distribution Region 1
AGM Distribution Region 2

Chairman
&
The members of the board

AGM Distribution Region 3

General Manager

AGM Distribution Region 4

AGM Projects

Chief internal Auditor

AGM Asset Management and Centralized services

Senior Project Director, Puttalam Coal Power Project

Finance Manager

Swot analysis on CEB

Strengths
CEB has monopoly in energy sector in Sri Lanka and it is funded by government.
Thus it has opportunity to serve for country.
CEB has well trained and skilled work force all over the country. There are over
600 engineers and thousands of well-trained staffs.
CEB network is spread all over the country and have properties in all part of
country which can be utilized to provide efficient service for country.
Weakness
Due to government organization there are political intervention, lack of taking
decisions and implementing, corruption and lack of capital funding and there
are no competitors for CEB.

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High losses in transmission and distribution and in CEB outdated technology

uses. Private firms allowed to power generation thus CEB has to make profit
while considering affordable price for customers.

CooperateCulture and Environment.

As CEB is a large organization compared with other normal companies, a
considerable large hierarchical gap can be identified between employees. CEB
has a fixed amount of customers and the profit or loss has a lower sensitive to
the number of customers. But it should concern more on internal environment
to reduce losses to achieve a self-satisfied company without the interference of
the government.
Thereare plenty of operational ports such as power stations, depots, branches
and offices in this organization. This makes the employees to shrink their
relationships within their branches or plant level. This may adversely affect the
employees to work actively for the company as the deterioration in
transformation of company morals to the low level employees.
As far as CEB is concerned I have identified a clear surface level culture when I
arrived at Gampaha CEB branch office. All top level employees are wearing
formal dresses. By looking at an employee we can identify the managerial level
the particular employee belongs to. In the morning before they start to work the
theme song of CEB is played to inject the spirit and the moralities of the
organization. When it comes to power plants the particular complex related
anthem is also played. For example in the power plants belongs to Mahaweli
complex the song which praises Mahawelias a priceless grit for Sri Lanka been
played. At this moment it is a culture that each and every employee must
standup to submits his/her respect to that particular anthem. These anthems
include the organizational vision and mission. Its like reminding the purpose
each and every day to refresh the minds.
In CEB they use a quiet different official jargon. A person is called weather
brother or sister (ayye, malli/nagi) by their consecutive hierarchal level
employees. For example an engineering trainee can call his fellow Engineer as
brother. This type of consistency culture is mostly welcomed at CEB by top level
managers to create a friendly working environment that may provide
effectiveness in working environment in return.
I have seen in some plants in CEB there are slogans quoted by a Sri Lanka
Hero along with his/her image. For example in Kelanithissa thermal complex
head office there are quotes of Sir Wimaladharmasuriya who was a wise man in
Sri Lanka the founder of Wimaladharmasuriya power station.
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On the first day of each and every year there will be a special meeting for all
employees. On this meeting the top level manager of that port will address the
employees on the work schedule, lessons from the past year and a moral for the
year.

The impact of the internal and external market elements upon CEB.
External Environment.
These are the facts that influence in CEB from the outside. External environment
is categorized as general environment and task environment.

General Environment.

General environment effect the company indirectly. Dimensions of the general

environment are;

International.
Technological.
Socio-cultural.
Economic.
Legal-political
Natural.

International.
As far as CEB is concerned it has petroleum oil fueled power plants as well as a
coal power plant. As a public organization CEB is not authorized to change the
domestic pricing structure time to time without the approval of PUCSL or
politicians. The uncertainty of global oil prices can make change in the
generation cost of CEB. As global oil prices does not have a sensitivity at the
customer end, if oil prices goes up it will be a loss for CEB and if oil prices goes
down it will be loss for the customers. This will create a win loss situation
rather than a win win situation. For example recently while the global oil prices
were freeze one of the politician promised the general public to reduce the
prices of electricity. The monopolistic nature of CEB is taken to drive their
hidden agendas.
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Recently when Saudi Arabia increased its oil production drastically, causing the
global oil prices to fall down. But this fact was not addressed at the customer
end,
Considering coal, CEB is currently exporting coal form Indonesia. This is due to
the reduced fright costs and quality of coal. Indonesia is a country which is
frequently effectedby natural disasterslike volcanos and Tsunamis. So there is
high probability that anytime the coal supply can be interrupted. At CEB end
Noraichcholai (largest and coal driven power plant in Sri Lanka)is the plant
which provide the bulk power to the country. Any interruptions to this plant may
cause severe power cuts causing industries to freeze their production. This may
be reflected in countries economy as well.
Technological
Growth of technology will increase the usage of electronic appliances among the
public. Demand for electric power has a positive co relation with the
technological advancement. So CEB should have a proper generation planning
that should be sensitive to the countrys GDP and other elated facts. This
planning is done by the generation and transmission planning division of CEB.
Socio-cultural
The important socio-cultural parameter that effect CEB is the population growth
and population density. Population growth has been considered as a variable for
the designing of generation planning. If the population growth is relatively
higher than CEB should put more concern on putting up generation units to
match the demand. This may also suit for rural electrification projects as the
education levels and industrialization of rural areas may demand more rural
electrification projects.

Economic
Economic growth of a country has a close relationship with the power industry.
Growth of manufacturing industry is the main cause for the intended demand
for the electricity.CEB has to concern more on facts like electrification train
system, development projects like port city and manufacturing industry which
are the governing factors for the future power demand. Expansion on power
projects should be done considering these facts appropriately.

Legal-Political
CEB as a government organization, politicians are always use this organization
to get the positive impression form the general public. Although electricity lies
on the top of the Maslows hierarchy, it has become ainseparable need for the
human been. The decision taking authority is always handed to the top level
politician and they process it as to fulfill their political desires resulting
technically contradicting outcomes. PUCSL is the regulatory body for CEB. Due
to the monopolistic nature of CEB it has the power to violate the guidelines and
codes. So PUCSL will be always filtering the out comings from CEB before going
to the customer end.
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Natural
For CEB environmental pollution is a big challenge. The emissions and the
wastages from the thermal and coal power plants are not recommended to be
discharged to the environment. Theses may cause harm to flora and fauna in
various environments even encourage global warming. So CEB has to bare the
carbon cost the cost for the environmental pollution as well. The major
regulatory bodies for CEB on this are the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority
(SSEA) and the Sri Lanka Environmental Authority (SEA). Approvals from those
organizations should be there before constructing a power plant. This may
cause delays in commissioning the power plants for the researches and site
investigations to check the compatibility of the selected site.
Task Environment.
This includes the facts that effect the company directly. Components of the task
environment are as follows.

Customers.
Competitors.
Suppliers.
Labor market.

Customers.
The customers for CEB is the general public. This is further categorized as
domestic, industrial, commercial and other. The major portion is due to domestic
customers. CEB sells electricity at a cheap rate for the domestic customers. On
the other hand industrial and commercial customers priced at high rates. CEEB
is one and only electricity supplier in Sri Lanka. Therefore customers have a
limited freedom on CEB to demand for quality supply. Any inquiries from the
customer side should go to PUCSL. This makes CEB to ensure its customers a
quality uninterrupted power supply.
Competitors.
As a monopolistic government owned public company CEB has no competitors
at all.

Suppliers.
CEB has both national and foreign suppliers. The main national supplier is LTL
Holdings from where CEB purchase transformers and other electric units. CEB is
the only local customer for LTL transformers. This ensures unint6eruptable
supply from the LTL side to CEB.
International supplies are mainly petroleum products and coal.
Labor market.
As far as CEB is concerned human resource is an important aspect. Technicians,
clerks, managers, superintendents, accountants and engineers are among
them. Sometimes CEB outsource labors from overseas for specific tasks. For
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examples if CEB fails to troubleshoot any problems with an electrical unit

experts are outsourced from India and even china.
For each and every level they have their unions. For example CEB engineering
union. If they want to achieve they get done it through their union.

Planning and goal setting.

The CEB engineer that I have met is a branch engineer. He is one who is
responsible for the electricity distribution of that area. There is an engineering
assistant, engineering superintendents, accountants technicians and clerks
working under his management. The main goal for a branch is providing
uninterrupted power to the customers and safety of the workers. For this they
have formed a separate safety committee members representing the branch
and the corresponding CEB depot. There are safety codes and guidelines that
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have to be practiced at branch level. The company mission and vision

statement includes the safety and health related matters. All employees are
informed about safety matters. Safety handbook is there in the office but its not
updated for a long time.
To achieve maximum working efficiency the technical employees they organize
annual training sessions in both technical matters and first aid. Workers who
performed well at the test that been conducted at the end of each and every
session were given gifts.
The branch with the help of the human resource unit in Kiribathgoda, conduct
uninformed field visits to check whether the workers are practicing the safety
aspects.

Decision making process.

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Ceylon Electricity board is a very large monopolistic organization. It is divided

into three major sections for the ease of operation.
1) Generation
2) Transmission.
3) Distribution.
In the generation section there are power plants and the generation planning
division. The main decisions are taken at the generation planning division by the
top management.These includes what are the power plants that have to be
included to meet the future power demand and the power plants that should be
retired. This is done considering the GDP, population growth and past
information. There is an additional General Manager who is responsible for this
section.
The Mannar wind power project and the Sampur coal power project are the
ongoing main power plant projects of CEB.
When it comes to power plants the major managerial decisions are taken are
made by the chief Engineer of that power plant. Most of the low level decisions
are made by the Engineers (mostly electrical and mechanical) who are working
under the chief engineer.

The chief Engineer of transmission expansion who is responsible for the

transmission expansion plans. There are two electrical Engineers working under
him. These decisions are filtered by the Additional General Manager for
transmission and implemented. The technical supports for the transmission line
protection and operation control is done by the Dematagoda transmission
maintenance division. Decisions related to operation and maintenance is made
by this division.
The electricity distribution is done by both CEB and LECO. LECO is formed to
help CEB to reduce increased losses on electricity supply and this company is
owned by CEB. The distribution for the region from Galle to Negambo is done by
LECO. Distribution section is monitored at city wise by the CEB and LECO
braches. Decisions related to their city are made by the branch Engineer and
the group of engineering assistants.

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CSR activities.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a business practice that involves
participating in initiatives that benefit society. As the vision statement of CEB
implies CEB is company which is formed for the beneficial of the general public.
Providing quality power to its customers is the motto of CEB. AS far as Sri Lanka
is concerned it is estimated that we are having an electrification rate of a 94%.
It is said that Development goes along with the power lines. Electrification
rates are closely subjected to the development of a nation in terms of economy
and quality of life. Education levels of school students in country have a high
sensitivity to this fact, which is a needed for a nation to be in the list of
competitors with other countries in the globe.
CEB was always a loss generating entity for the nation before some years. This
may be due the inappropriate management skills of its workers. But this
company was always ensured the uninterruptable power supply to the country.
In the electricity pricing structure, the price for domestic customers very low
compared with industrial and commercial customers. Although the average
generation cost of CEB is around 13 rupees it is sold at 3 rupees for domestic
customers providing a relief for the public.
More social related activities are conducted annually by various divisions in CEB.
For example annual blood donation campaigns were arranged Upper Kothmale
Hydro power plant under the leadership of chief engineer Mr. Shyabnbdeen.

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Conclusion.
CEB is the largest monopolistic company in Sri Lanka. The vision and mission
statements of CEB indicate that this company is formed purely for the purpose
of supping quality power to the general public. CEB provides a better service to
the country as electricity is the main parameter for the development of a
country. CEB has a different cooperate culture compared to other organizations.
PUCSL is the regulatory for CEB. PUCSL was formed for the sake of the
customers the general public. The major customer for CEB is the domestic
customers for whom CEB sells electricity at a cheapest rate.
There are many factors in the external and internal environment that can
influence on CEB. CEB has local as well as international suppliers. Most of the
labor force work for is locals. CEB may outsource technical experts for specific
tasks to improve the performance.
For last few decades CEB was a lost generating entity for the country. Political
influences towards this company and lack of managerial skills of CEB Engineers
are the major reason for this.
The planning and goals setting process has a considerable improvement at the
considered Gampaha CEB branch office. Priority was given to the safety related
aspects and they have formed a safety committee to manage their activities.

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References
Ceylon Electricity Board. 2015. Ceylon Electricity Board. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.ceb.lk. [Accessed 28 July 2015].

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