NEA suffers loss of Rs 1.16 b in import of electricity

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    KATHMANDU, June 26

    trl-energyThe Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has suffered a loss of Rs 1.16 billion in import of electricity from India during the current fiscal year due to 25 percent of leakage from the transmission system in course of import. NEA has been suffering leakages in such a high degree every year due to poor transmission infrastructures.

    NEA has imported 643,667,000 units of electricity worth around Rs 4.64 billion this year and 160,916,000 units out of that have been lost due to leakage. The per unit cost of imported electricity is Rs 7.22 apart from the leakage and wheeling charge, and it rises by Rs 1.08 per unit due to the leakage. The per unit cost rises to around Rs 9 due to the leakage and wheeling charge while NEA earns Rs 8.15 per unit by selling electricity to the customers. “The loss will rise further in the next year as import of electricity has risen in recent times,” Deputy Executive Director of the Finance Department of NEA Lab Bahadur Ghimire said. “800 million units of electricity will be imported by the end of this fiscal year and the loss will rise further,” he added.

    NEA has been importing electricity mainly from the Bihar Electricity Board, the Power Trading Corporation, India Limited, and the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Board. The government is providing Rs 278.60 million to NEA to compensate for the loss suffered from import till now. He revealed that the Ministry of Energy has already forwarded recommendation for payment to the Finance Ministry. NEA had planned to import 1.05 billion units of electricity from India in the current fiscal year to control load-shedding, around 340 million units more than what was imported in the last fiscal year,  but the targeted quantity could not be imported due to the delay in expansion of capacity of the 132 KV Kataiya-Kushaha Transmission Line.

    Nepal has been procuring electricity from India in two ways–as per the exchange agreement and by paying commercial rate. A minimum of 50 MW to 80 MW is imported as per the bilateral agreement while the rest at commercial rate. NEA imported 170 MW this year and it aims to limit load-shedding to 12-14 hours a day the next year by importing another 70 MW. Though the demand of electricity rises by 100 MW every year, projects have not been constructed to address the rising demand.

    Source : Karobar