18,000 homes in Taulihawa deprived of electricity connection

KAPILVASTU, Feb 11: Over 18,000 households in Taulihawa Municipality of Kapilvastu district have been living without electricity although it has already been over a year since they filed application for a connection at the local office of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). Among them, over 1,200 customers have already made a pre-payment of Rs 1,400 to the NEA.

"We have run out of stocks of electricity meters and the central office has not supplied even a single meter since a year," informed Narayan Aryal, NEA's managing director at Taulihawa. "We have stopped accepting applications seeking installment of meters at households," he added.


Munna Bhujel, a local said, "I have visited the office ten times since submitting the application. But they have been sending me back empty-handed saying they do not have meters."

NEA official Aryal informed that their letters to the central office seeking meters have not received any response.

"Even we feel embarrassed when we have to send back consumers giving the same reason since the past one year. But we have no choice," he added.

There has been acute shortage of meters across the country after the NEA's tender process for purchasing the equipment came under the scrutiny of the Commission of for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), stalling the entire process.

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