Power leakage reduced by half in eight years; Rs 12 billion more income every year

KATHMANDU, AUGUST 11: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced electricity leakage through its transmission and distribution system by half over the past eight years. In the fiscal year 2015/16, electricity leakage was 25.78 percent, but this has been reduced to 12.73 percent by the end of the fiscal year 2023/24 BS.

Out of the current electricity leakage, 3.33 percent is from the transmission line and 9.40 percent is from distribution. Eight years ago, of the 25.78 percent leakage, 19.80 percent was from distribution and the remainder was from the transmission. Electricity leakage was reduced to 22.90 percent in 2016/17 2073/74 BS, 20.45 percent in 2017/18, 15.32 percent in 2018/19, and 15.27 percent in 2019/20

In 2020/21 BS, the leakage increased to 17.18 percent. However, it was reduced to 15.38 percent in 2021/22 BS and 13.46 percent in 2022/23. 

Kulman Ghising, the executive director of the NEA, stated that systematic and effective measures to control leakages have led to significant success over the past eight years. Executive Director Ghising noted that the steps taken to ensure regular electricity supply and control both technical and non-technical leakages have positively impacted the reduction of distribution leakage.

"Due to electricity leakage in the system, billions of rupees in revenue were being lost directly. The campaign to control technical and non-technical leakage has been successful, resulting in a significant decrease in leakage towards distribution. This leakage ratio is now lower than that of neighboring countries," said Executive Director Ghising.

Approximately 12 billion rupees in additional income has been generated from leakage control alone. The NEA states that this profit is being reinvested in system expansion and improvement, with the goal of reducing leakage to a single digit.