Nepal Electricity Authority to give names of power beneficiaries

Kathmandu January 8- The Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts today extended a three-day deadline to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to submit the list of clients that are getting uninterrupted supply of electricity via dedicated feeder lines and the tariff imposed on them.

The instruction was given amidst a controversy surrounding the Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission (ETFC)’s recommendation that premium added to tariff on electricity consumed by some of the clients of NEA be waived.

Currently, some of the clients of NEA are getting power supply for over 20 hours per day, while ordinary people are compelled to cope with daily power cuts of over 14 hours. These clients, according to NEA, are getting preferential treatment because they are categorized as essential service providers.

Some of these clients include Bir Hospital, Tribhuvan International Airport, Singha Durbar complex and Prime Minister’s residence. But apart from these, some of the profit-making ventures, including private hospitals and manufacturing units and even individuals are also taking advantage of this facility.

Although these clients, who are getting uninterrupted power supply through dedicated feeder lines, were previously charged normal tariff based on consumption, NEA, on July 17, decided to raise the price by 100 per cent.

But on Sunday, the ETFC — an autonomous body that fixes electricity tariff — wrote a letter to NEA stating that premium added to tariff of electricity supplied through dedicated feeder lines be ignored.

The ETFC said it had taken the decision based on a complaint filed by Bir Hospital, a state-owned hospital which provides healthcare services at a minimal cost.

Electricity Tariff to go up by 18pc

Electricity tariff may go up by 18 per cent soon, the Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission said today. “We won’t be raising the tariff in the next one to two months, as load-shedding hours have just gone up and the country is reeling under fuel crisis,” Jagat Kumar Bhusal, chairman of the autonomous body established to fix electricity tariff, told the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts. “But we will have to make the revision after that because it’s been quite some time since we raised the price.” Electricity tariff was last raised by 10 per cent around three-and-a-half years ago. Source: THT