The showers that took place in the hydro catchment areas are not sufficient to reduce the number of hours of the present power cut. The rainfall figures at Victoria and Ukuwela showed 34.2 mm and 55.2 mm respectively, Ministry of Power and Energy sources said .

They said that the eight hour power cuts which were implemented from Saturday will prevail if the situation does not change within the next few days.

The daily generation and reservoir statistics show that the live storage of Maussakelle on Monday was 37.1 mm while the live storage at Castlareigh was 27.1 mm.

Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) sources said that the power cuts could be extended in rotation from seven and a half hours to eight during the early hours of the morning and night.