Janakpurdham: The electricity leakage control campaign is becoming increasingly effective in Madhesh Province. Electricity losses in the province have been declining after the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) intensified efforts to control electricity theft through illegal connections, improve customer billing and meter reading, and replace meters that had remained non-functional for a long time.
According to the NEA’s Madhesh Provincial Office, electricity losses fell by 1.61 percentage points in the first two months of the current fiscal year 2026/27 compared to the same period last fiscal year. Electricity losses, which stood at 22.56 percent in Shrawan and Bhadra of the previous fiscal year, declined to 20.95 percent during the corresponding period of the current fiscal year.
Electricity losses in Madhesh Province stood at 20.09 percent in Shrawan and 21.76 percent in Bhadra of the current fiscal year. In the same months of the previous fiscal year, losses were recorded at 25.67 percent and 23.52 percent, respectively.
The level of electricity losses varies across distribution centers. The Simara Distribution Center in Bara recorded the lowest loss rate at 2.94 percent, while the Maulapur Distribution Center in Rautahat recorded the highest at 47.77 percent.
According to Shambhu Kusiyait, chief engineer of the NEA’s Madhesh Provincial Office in Janakpurdham, electricity losses are particularly high in Maulapur and Gaur in Rautahat and the Malangwa area of Sarlahi. He said the Simara Distribution Center in Bara has comparatively lower losses because of its large number of industrial customers.
Meanwhile, the NEA’s campaign to disconnect electricity supply to customers who have failed to pay their bills for an extended period has also increased the recovery of outstanding dues. During the first two months of the current fiscal year alone, the electricity connections of 8,782 customers who had failed to pay their bills were disconnected.
Of those customers, 8,234 paid their outstanding bills and had their electricity connections restored. The NEA said it recovered Rs 200.977 million in outstanding payments from them.
Chief Engineer Kusiyait said the disconnection campaign had been intensified in response to the growing practice of customers consuming electricity through meters but failing to pay their bills for extended periods. In the previous fiscal year alone, electricity connections of 42,664 customers were disconnected. The NEA said it recovered Rs 1.0047 billion in outstanding dues during that period.
According to the NEA, industrial customers account for 59 percent of its customers in Madhesh Province, while domestic customers make up 31 percent. Kusiyait said electricity services had reached 99.99 percent of households in the province, with expansion work underway in the remaining areas.
The NEA said only around 10 percent of the irrigation sector in various districts of Madhesh Province has been electrified.
Jalasarokar