News
Crisis looms over VRS as CEB split nears
View(s):- Employees who opted for retirement say they are being forced to stay
- Official date for unbundling not gazetted; Reforms Secretariat chief resigns
More than 2,000 Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) employees, many of them mid-career professionals, have opted for a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) and yesterday complained to the Energy Minister that the management is “forcibly retaining” them in service by denying them permission to leave immediately.
Meanwhile, Power Sector Reforms Secretariat (PSRS) Director General Pubudu Niroshan Hedigallage has submitted his resignation effective January 15, 2026, leaving what these employees say is a “dangerous leadership vacuum at a critical moment”. A successor has not been named.
The PSRS is responsible for restructuring the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), unbundling its functions (generation, transmission, and distribution) into separate entities, and implementing reforms to make the power sector more efficient.
The VRS was announced via a gazette on August 26 last year as part of the government’s programme to “unbundle” the CEB and establish four successor entities called Electricity Generation Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, National Transmission Network Service Provider (Pvt) Ltd, National System Operator (Pvt) Ltd, and Electricity Distribution Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.
Under the Act, current employees were given a two-month window to decide whether to join these successor companies, states a letter sent yesterday to the Energy Minister.
“The right to access a VRS was explicitly guaranteed for those choosing not to transition,” it says. “Adhering to this strict legal framework, approximately 2,200 employees formally notified the CEB by October 27, 2025, of their decision not to join the new entities.”
Despite this, however, “the CEB management is forcibly retaining us in service,” the employees maintain, thereby denying them their right to resign or retire; accept private sector employment; migrate or finalise foreign employment offers; or start self-employment or alternative livelihoods.
“Our grievance is not merely about compensation—which can be paid later—but the urgent need for permission to leave the service now,” the letter states.
February 1, 2026, is the target date set by the Energy Ministry for the complete transfer of all assets to the new companies. This is called the “appointed date”.
“These are formal administrative milestones, yet the minister has not yet published the appointed date in the gazette,” the letter points out. “Consequently, the successor companies lack legal authority, and employees are being held against their will, leading to a sharp decline in institutional productivity.”
While the Power Sector Reforms Secretariat Director General had verbally assured employees that the appointed date would be announced as February 1, 2026, they have learnt that the DG has submitted his resignation, effective this week.
“Many of us are young or mid-career professionals who made life-changing decisions—such as migration or entrepreneurship—based on faith in this system,” the employees write to the minister. They now face the inability to confirm foreign jobs or apply for visas; loss of private sector recruitment opportunities in January and February; and severe financial pressure and mental stress on families.
“Furthermore, some VRS employees who travelled abroad have been issued ‘vacation of post’ letters, risking their VRS entitlements,” they say. “Others have been allowed to withdraw VRS applications on a selective basis.”
They warn that the prolonged uncertainty is paralysing the CEB’s operations as a national utility. “Forcing employees who no longer wish to stay to remain against their will serves no productive purpose for the institution or the country,” the letter says.
They request the minister to gazette the appointed date, effective on or before February 1, 2026, to allow employees who opted for the VRS to exit the service under approved leave or another formal basis without prejudice to their entitlements and to protect the VRS rights and benefits of employees who are already away due to time-sensitive professional employees.
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