21. Application for a licence and grant of licence

An application for the grant of a licence for generation, transmission, distribution or supply of electricity or for an extension of any one of such licences, shall be made in writing to the Regulator in such form as shall be prescribed, and shall be accompanied by such information and documents, and such fee, as shall be prescribed.

On receipt of the application, the Regulator shall, if the Regulator is of the opinion that on the basis of the information disclosed with the respective application, there appears to be no impediment to the issue of a licence to the applicant, proceed to take all necessary steps for the granting of such licence or the extension applied for, including publishing a notice on the official website of the Regulator, or in the Gazette or a local newspaper in the Sinhala, Tamil and English languages of its intention to grant the licence or the extension applied for, with the details of the intended project in order to inform persons who are likely to be affected by the issue of the licence or extension of the same.

Every notice under subsection (2), shall state—

On receipt of a written representation against granting the particular licence, the Regulator shall appoint an adjudicating panel consisting of two members having eminence and experience not less than ten years in the fields of law and engineering to inquire into the matter. After permitting the concerned persons referred to in paragraph (c) of subsection (3) to make their representation and making such inquiries and visiting the site, the adjudicating panel shall notify the Regulator in writing of its recommendation.

The Regulator shall, in keeping with the recommendation made by the adjudicating panel under subsection (4), make its determination in respect thereof which shall be informed to the applicant within ninety days from the date of receipt of the recommendation.

Every licence issued in terms of this Part shall be subject to –