Co-government spokesperson and State Minister for Power and Renewable Energy Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that during a meeting with the President today, the President had advised that “under no circumstances should there be any power cuts in future.” RefEring to recent power cuts the minister thatpower outage is illegal and committee has been tasked by the President to investigate the causes.” Addressing a media briefing this morning HE revealed that the Ceylon Electricity Board had incurred a combined loss of nearly 200 billion rupees owing to the Yahapalana government’s decision to abstain from paying off loans during the last three years.This he said had come to light when a committee chaired by the Secretary to his ministry had inquired into the recent power outages which took place in many parts of Colombo for two hours on the 3rd of this month. “When we inquired into the sporadic power outages which lasted over two hours on the 3rd, I was informed that due to the non-payment of monies the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation amounting to 84 billion by the end of 2019,” he said. “This power outage is illegal and committee has been tasked by the President to investigate the causes.”Minister Aluthgamage said that during a meeting with the President today, the President had advised that “under no circumstances should there be any power cuts in future.” “The reason given for the recent power outage is both unacceptable and invalid. We are investigating to see if this was an act of sabotage.” he said.