Electricity leakage down to 14.45 per cent

Electricity leakage dropped down to 14.45 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal year.

According to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), it has managed to reduce the electricity leakage of the system from 17.18 per cent in the last fiscal year by 2.73 percentage points in the first six months of the current fiscal year 2021-22 to 14.45 per cent.

It became possible through regular campaigning for power supply and control of technical and non-technical leakages, the sole power authority claimed, adding that the leakage has dropped to 14.45 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal year, including power transmission and distribution. 

NEA also claimed that most of the leakage in the system is taking place during distribution. "The leakage during distribution in the first six months period is 9.23 per cent," the NEA claimed, adding that it has set a target of reducing electricity leakage to 15.5 per cent in the current fiscal year.

The drop in leakage has also helped increase profit of the NEA. According to NEA managing director Kulman Ghising, "NEA's profit has increased because of increase in revenue due to the reduction in leakage."

The leakage control campaign, according to him, has been carried out effectively, increasing the capacity of the substations, adding conductors, replacing overloaded transformers, and encouraging the use of three-phase meters.

The authority will take strict action against those who steal by bypassing and hooking up the meter, and those who resell the meters, replace the meter and tamper with the meter in order to control the non-technical leakage, he added.

Leakage control boosts NEA profit

The state power utility has doubled the profit in a year due to its efficiency in controlling leakage, though it still has cumulative loss.
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has earned a net profit of Rs 7.2 billion in the fiscal year 2018-19, whereas it had recorded Rs 2.9 billion profit in the previous fiscal year 2017-18. Likewise, it had recorded a loss of Rs 8.8 billion in the fiscal year 2015-16.
The NEA was able to generate profit due to the end to load-shedding, reduction in the average price of imported and domestic electricity, control of administration and technical expenses, and implementation of financial reform measures, informed managing director of NEA Kulman Ghising, after whose appointment the NEA has been making continuous profits.
The cumulative loss of the power utility has come down by Rs 10 billion to Rs 15 billion – as of today – as it had incurred a loss of Rs 8.8 billion in the fiscal year 2015-16 alone making a cumulative loss of Rs 34.61 billion, Rs 28.17 billion in 2016-17, Rs 25.59 billion 2017-18, and Rs 8.89 billion in the fiscal year 2015-16, he informed at a press meet today. The state-owned company, which had always been in the red, started making profits after the appointment of Ghising.
Likewise, minister for Energy, Water Resource, and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun also attributed the profit and reduction of cumulative loss – in the last three years – to leakage control, tightening payment of dues, and improved situation of distribution lines and sub-stations.
The power leakage has been reduced to 15.32 per cent in the fiscal year 2018-19 from 20.45 per cent in the fiscal year 2017-18, according to the NEA. “The power leakage in the fiscal year 2009-10 stood at 28.91 per cent,’ the NEA annual report reads, adding that the control in leakage is also due to regular campaign. “The NEA has been running campaigns to control power theft, control leakage, tighten payment of due bills and these initiatives have helped reduce power leakage.”
The leakage is 11 per cent on the distribution side and 4 per cent on the technical side. The NEA has reached South Asian standard in controlling distribution leakage, whereas it is now focusing on reduction of technical leakage. “We are planning to reduce the leakage by five percentage points and maintain it at around 10 per cent in the ongoing fiscal year,” Ghising said, adding that the NEA expects to meet the average electricity leakage of other South Asian countries, which stands at eight to 10 per cent.
According to the NEA annual report, the number of consumers connected to the national grid has also increased by 10 per cent in the last fiscal year. “However, a major quantum of power being consumed in the country is being supplied from India, it adds.
“Of the total 7.55 billion units of electricity consumed in the country in the last fiscal year, NEA had contributed 2.55 billion units, independent power producers had supplied 2.19 billion units and the remaining 2.81 billion units was imported from India,” the report reads, adding that NEA has, meanwhile, exported 34.7 million units of electricity worth Rs 320 million to India through various local cross-border transmission lines. “NEA has built a total of 757 km of transmission circuit line, of which a length of 606 km has been charged in the national grid so far.”
The NEA also constructed 9,722 km of local distribution lines that are of below 33 kVA capacity in the last fiscal year, whereas NEA constructed 40 substations and installed 6,581 new transformers across the country.
The NEA report also reads that NEA has completed the construction of 60-MW Upper Trishuli III A hydropower project, and hopes to complete the 456-MW Upper Tamakoshi hydropower project by this fiscal year.

New NEA Act on Cards
“A new electricity act is on cards to match the federal structure and replace the existing NEA Act 1984,” Pun said, adding that the country has aimed to end the use of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and replace it with the use of electricity. “The draft will also be forwarded to the provinces and concerned stakeholders to receive feedback and suggestions.”
He also informed that the new act will have a provision to allocate shares of NEA to the public.
“We are about to finalise the criteria for establishing vehicle charging stations to encourage electric vehicles,” Pun said, adding that that the government is also planning to formulate policy to promote electric cooking in every household.

Fiscal Year – Profit – Leakage
2016-17 – Rs 1.5 bn – 22.90 per cent
2017-18 – Rs 2.9 bn – 20.45 per cent
2018-19 – Rs 7.2 bn – 15.32 per cent
2019-20 (projected) – Rs 15 bn – 10.50 per cent
Source: NEA