NEA losses reach 7 billion; load shedding from first week of September

The total loss occurred by the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) stood at seven billion rupees by this year.

As per the white paper unveiled on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the NEA, the state power monopoly started incurring heavy financial losses after 2002 when the privately-built power plants such as Khimti, Bhotekoshi and Chilime were connected to the national grid under the power purchase agreement (PPA).

According to the white paper, the NEA had to pay Rs 1.75 billion to the three private power plants last year to purchase “flood energy” they produced.

Currently, the NEA has the installed capacity of 611 (NEA 463 MW and Independent Power Produces (IPP) 148) in its national grid, but it cannot meet the power demand during dry seasons.

Maximum shortage of energy is accounted for about 70 MW during the dry season. No new plant has been constructed so far since the Kaligandaki-A came into operation five years ago.

Managing director Arjun Kumar Karki predicted more power cuts from the first week of September leading to the load shedding due to a shortfall of 93 MW of energy, as one of the turbines of the 144 MW Kaligandaki-A hydel project would be shut down for 50 days for maintenance, while another turbine of the Kulekhani reservoir would also be closed to raise the level of water.

NEA also said there will be some respite if 50 megawatt of electricity is bought from India. Negotiations for the power import are going on. Customers will then have to face load-shedding for up to four hours a day only.

NEA has announced load shedding of up to three hours at night in Birjung. Load shedding has been going on in Birjung for the last few days, according to reports.

The country faced 17-hours of load shedding in the last dry season.

Earlier, speaking at the anniversary function of the NEA, Minister of State for Water Resources Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that foreign investment would be encouraged for export-oriented and big projects, while domestic investment would be mobilised for domestic consumption.

He also hoped betterment in the water resources sector, as the peace process is moving towards the right direction. nepalnews.com pb Aug 18 06

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