Govind Mishra

Kathmandu, April 24:

While the nation attended to more pressing problems of demo-cracy and sharing of power, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned monolith in charge of generating and distributing power in Nepal, has been undergoing a quiet revolution. Internal and structural in nature, its full impact is being promised to be felt in another six months. At the helm of this change, succinctly termed as ‘internal unbundling’, is the managing director of NEA, Dr Janak Lall Karmacharya who has just received a two years’ extension as the chief of NEA.

The ‘internal unbundling process’ that was started some nine months back has started to yield real results. To plug the biggest hole in the NEA bucket, distribution of electricity, was taken up as an area for redress first.

18 employees of NEA were selected for running select ‘distribution centres’ after they signed a ‘performance agreement’ with the NEA. Giving details of the plan, Karmacharya told The Himalayan Times in an exclusive interview, that the agreement promised both a carrot and a stick. People who achieved the set parameters like revenue collection, stock turnover and efficient consumer services, were to be given, among other advantages, 30 per cent of the increased revenue earned in his or her given centre. The failures were to be punished with such measures as removal from the post and no increment in salary. Happily for Karmacharya, 17 out of the selected 18 today have earned eligibility for rewards, based on a ‘performance audit’ carried out by independent auditors. Not surprisingly NEA revenue generation has also gone up, as these 18 centres cover 75 per cent of the revenue generating areas in the country.

The other key areas like transmission and generation are also undergoing similar changes. “The attempt is to make each important segment of the organisation responsible and accountable for its task and thereby, increase the efficiency of the whole organisation,” said Karmacharya. NEA has also introduced ‘computer accounting system’ in all of its 162 branches in the country which is helping it keep track of the movement of money within the organisation. It is also helping it in better portfolio management. A similar step was taken some four months back by introducing ‘computerised inventory control’ that has helped NEA keep a better track of equipment available within the organisation. This has cut down cost by stopping unnecessary buying of equipment that NEA already owns and often used to overlook earlier.

A computerised data bank also helps NEA keep an eye on all its 9,000 odd employees and their service details now. In line with its ‘information technology roadmap’, a ‘management of information system’ (MIS) is also being introduced in NEA. This will eventually help formulate a ‘grid code’ and better ‘transmission pricing’, said Karmacharya. Talking about the impact of such initiatives on the bottom line of NEA, Karmacharya said, “The extension in my tenure has given me the opportunity to bring to logical conclusion of the plans that we floated some nine months back. The results will be there for all to see in six months time.”

Sell your own electricity

Kathmandu: NEA has introduced a plan under which rural communities are being encouraged to take charge of ‘operation and maintenance’ of distribution of electricity in their own locality. Under the plan, NEA takes electricity to a main metre from where the local community takes over. NEA sells electricity at this point for Rs 3.50 per unit. From here onwards, locals are free to fix their own rate for electricity. The plan saves NEA the troubles of maintaining, distributing and collecting revenue from individual users. It has also brought down the incidents of ‘hooking’. Locals on the other hand get electricity more regularly, as maintenance improves and also, at a cheaper rate. 18 such areas are already operative in areas like Tanahun, Gorkha and Parsa, while seven are just being finalised. NEA promises to process 50 more applications within a month out of a total 192 such applications that it has received so far.