Kathmandu, January 19
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has said that it was able to reduce electricity leakage in its distribution system by 1.74 percentage points in the five months of ongoing fiscal year to 7.49 per cent.
Electricity leakage towards distribution was 9.23 per cent in the corresponding period of last fiscal year whereas it stood at 10.86 per cent for the entire fiscal year 2021-22.
NEA had earlier set a target of reducing electricity leakage to 14 per cent in its supply system and limiting the distribution leakage to 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal.
According to NEA, out of the 4.14 billion units of electricity received in the distribution system, 3.83 billion units were distributed. Meanwhile, 310 million units of electricity were leaked.
The leakage towards the transmission line was 4.56 per cent and electricity leakage of the overall system was 12.05 per cent during the five months of the current fiscal year. The overall leakage in the NEA system had been brought down to 15.38 per cent in the last fiscal year.
Since Kulman Ghising Ghising was appointed to the top post of the country's only power utility company, NEA has started taking strict action against electricity theft and has become more stringent in collecting dues. Moreover, NEA has installed high-capacity transformers, and upgraded the transmission and distribution systems and substations to reduce electricity leakage.
Ghising, managing director of the authority, said that it was a great achievement to reduce the distribution leakage to 7.49 per cent from around 22 per cent about seven years ago.
NEA MD Ghising said that the entire team has been mobilised to effectively implement the measures to control technical and non-technical leakages.
"During this period, construction of new substations was completed, existing substations were upgraded, electricity consumption increased in the industrial sector, meter reading was made effective, and the leakages were reduced," Ghising said.
Among the distribution centres under the authority's seven regional offices and two provincial division offices, Janakpur Regional Office in Madhesh Province had the highest electricity leakage. The total electricity leakage of 23 distribution centres under Janakpur Regional Office was 12.80 per cent till the month of mid-November to mid-December. In the same period last year, it was 12.97 per cent. Malangwa Distribution Centre in Sarlahi had the highest power leakage of 44.83 per cent. Last year, the distribution centre's electricity leakage was 43.82 per cent.
The electricity leakage of Rautahat's Maulapur Distribution Centre was 40.55 per cent. It was 37.82 per cent at Simraungadh Distribution Centre in Bara during the review period.
The leakage of Mahottari's Jaleshwar Distribution Centre was 37.61 per cent last year and 34.51 per cent this year.
The overall electricity leakage of 24 distribution centres under Biratnagar Regional Office in Province 1 during review period was 7.42 per cent against leakage of 9.94 per cent during the same period last year.
The overall power leakage of six distribution centres under Hetauda Provincial Division Office in Bagmati Province was four per cent in the five months of current fiscal year, compared to 4.53 per cent during the same period last fiscal. Palung Distribution Centre of Makwanpur had the highest power leakage of 24.64 per cent under the division office.
The overall electricity leakage of 20 distribution centres under Kathmandu Regional Office in Bagmati Province was 5.33 per cent. In the previous year, it was 7.47 per cent.
Sindhupalchowk Distribution Centre under the Kathmandu Regional Office had the highest leakage of 21.37 per cent, which was still an improvement from 31.93 per cent in the same period last fiscal.
The overall electricity leakage of 12 distribution centres under Pokhara Regional Office in Gandaki Province was 7.91 per cent in the five months of last fiscal and was brought down to 6.43 per cent this fiscal. The highest leakage under the office was from the Tatopani Distribution Centre in Myagdi. Its leakage was 5.71 per cent in the last fiscal year, which surged to 41.78 per cent this year.
Total electricity leakage of 11 distribution centres under Butwal Regional Office in Lumbini Province was 6.02 per cent. The highest leakage of 19.79 per cent was at Gulmi Distribution Centre.
The overall electricity leakage of seven distribution centres under the Surkhet Regional Office in Karnali Province was 10.58 per cent, which was a reduction from 13.32 per cent in the last fiscal year. Rukum (West) Distribution Centre had the highest leakage under the office. The leakage of the centre was 27.13 per cent in the last fiscal year and it had gone up to 36.65 per cent this fiscal.
The overall electricity leakage of 12 distribution centres under the Attaria Regional Office in Sudurpaschim Province in the five months of this fiscal was 5.98 per cent. In the same period last year, the leakage was 5.76 per cent. Bajhang Distribution Centre had the most leakage under the office at 21.91 per cent.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 20, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
