Nepal ranks 4th among countries with highest electricity leakage

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    KATHMANDU, Jan 17: Nepal not only lags behind in energy generation but is also far behind in managing electricity transmission and distribution efficiently.

    According to a Global Economic Prospects report of World Bank published on Wednesday, Nepal is among the top 10 countries in terms of electricity losses.

    The country is in the fourth position in terms of high electricity losses. The country lost 34 percent electricity in transmission and distribution in 2011. Nepal stands after Haiti, Republic of Congo and Iraq in terms of electricity losses.
    The report says the losses are technical and non-technical ones.

    “With power generation unlikely to keep pace with growing demand in the region, shortages are expected to persist in the near term, including in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan,” the report adds.

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    But officials of the Nepal Electricity Authority claim the report is erroneous. They say that the losses are not as high as projected by the World Bank. NEA’s annual report for the fiscal year 2010/11 says the losses were only 28.35 percent. NEA’s system loss has come down to 25.11 percent in the fiscal year 2013/14. NEA’s total energy supply was 4631.51 GWh (78.4 percent) in the last fiscal year.

    Energy Expert Amrit Man Nakarmi admitted that the NEA lost a significant amount of electricity to leakages.

    Deputy Managing Director of NEA Sher Singh Bhat said that there is no Energy Efficiency Bureau, an entity that monitors efficiency of electric appliances. Nepal imports almost all of the electrical appliances. Nepal’s per capita electricity consumption is only 93 units, the lowest among the South Asian Countries.

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    The rich and developed countries not only have adopted a high-tech and latest transmission and distribution systems but also energy efficient appliances.

    Experts say electricity loss in terms of country’s economic value is much higher than mere electricity loss.

    Source : Republica