(17^th October 2019) – The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), the electricity sector regulator held its third awareness campaign on the framework for licensing of electricians, at Ampara District on 17^th October 2019 with the participation of more than 1000 electricians in the district of Ampara.

PUCSL with the support of Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA), National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) and Vocational Training Authority (VTA) launched an Island wide awareness campaign on the framework for licensing of electricians on August this year in Manmunai North, Divisional Secretariat in Batticaloa with the participation of 500 electricians. The 2^nd District Awareness Programme was held in Kandy early this month. 1200 electricians in Kandy District attended the programme. National Campaign on Electrician Licensing will aim to aware more than 30,000 electricians in the country.

The island-wide awareness campaign came into light with the necessary approval granted for the framework for licensing of electricians in Sri Lanka where every electrician of the country has to get a license to carry out the repairs and wiring households and buildings. The approved mechanism was developed by the PUCSL in collaboration with the Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA), Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC), Vocational Training Authority (VTA), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Lanka Electricity Company (PVT) Limited (LECO) and Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) to establish an accepted professional status for electricians in the country through accrediting their qualifications and experience and to uplift the safety & quality of the electrical installation.

The electrocution analysis report by PUCSL noted that averagely 50 per cent of the electrocutions take place due to the issues of wiring, maintenance and non-standards.

Sri Lanka has more than 30,000 electricians and data shows that only a few of them has obtained the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) or any other accepted professional qualifications. Most of the wiring and maintenance of the households and other premises are carried out by electricians who have no recognized qualifications but have experience through practice.

With the introduction of the mechanism, all the electricians will be issued a temporary license to continue their work and to obtained required qualifications.

For those who are qualified with National Vocational Qualification 3 (NVQ 3) and above can obtain a permanent license from CIDA, proving their knowledge at the evaluation facilitated by the Evaluation Panel.

For those who are not professionally qualified, but have hands-on experience, are given the opportunity to prove the competency and to qualify for NVQ levels through a process facilitated by the Panel consisted of above organizations, so that they can obtain the permanent license.

With the permanent license, electricians can design, wire, test, the installation of domestic wiring (30 amps Signal phase) and issue a certificate to get the electrical connection which is accepted by CEB and LECO.

According to the proposed mechanism, it is a must to produce the certification of an electrician with the permanent license, which states that the installation was designed, wired and tested to receive the electrical connection to a domestic (up to 30A, single-phase).

Electricians with permanent licenses can also carry-out the wiring, testing and installation of the three-phase 30 amps & 60 amps installation, subject to the design by a chartered engineer. The proposed mechanism will also provide a career ladder for the electricians, according to their professional level and expertise, starting from apprentice, junior electrician, senior electrician, master electrician and utility electrician.

For further details – Jayanat Herat, Director of Corporate Communication – 0772943193