KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 1

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 8.5 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year 2022-23.

According to its (unaudited) financial statements between mid-July and mid-October, the NEA earned Rs 32.98 billion from sale of electricity, interest and other sources of income. Of the total income, the authority's profit stood at Rs 8.5 billion, with the total expenditure of Rs 24.88 billion prior to tax payment during the review period.

According to details published as per Right to Information Act, the NEA had purchased power worth Rs 14.15 billion from the private sector.

With the electricity trade generated from its own power plants and purchased from the private sector across the country, the NEA's net income stood Rs 22.20 billion during first three months.

Meanwhile, NEA has earned a net income of Rs 6.17 million by selling surplus power during the review period at competitive rate in the Indian energy market .

The authority, which had recorded an annual loss of Rs 8.89 billion in the fiscal year 2015-16, has been continuously making profits in the subsequent years.

The authority's profit, which had reached Rs 11.75 billion in fiscal year 2019-20 had dropped to Rs 6.9 billion in fiscal 2020-21 as the economic activities had taken a major hit due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the NEA made a profit to Rs 16.16 billion in the previous fiscal year, with the gradual resumption of economic activities.

NEA succeeded in making a significant profit in the first three months of the current year due to leakage control, increase in income and cost control due to the increase in electricity exports internally and to India, according to NEA's Managing Director Kulman Ghising.

Ghising said that the NEA is planning to utilise its income on expanding and strengthening the transmission and distribution infrastructure to increase electricity consumption and provide reliable and quality electricity to the consumers.

"To increase domestic consumption and ensure affordable and quality power supply to consumers, it is necessary to invest around Rs 400 billion," he shared.

"We're unable to get enough budget from the government due to limited resources, thus, we are investing every year's profit on expanding and strengthening the infrastructure for production, transmission and distribution," he added.

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A version of this arzzticle appears in the print on December 2, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.