Lights out

Despite the supposed around-the-world effects of global warming, temperatures throughout the country have been steadily plummeting in last one month. With the mercury dipping below zero degree Celsius last week for the first time this winter, the frigid conditions made worse by intermittent bouts of unseasonal rain, people are trying to keep themselves warm by lighting up small bonfires and adding extra layers of clothing, at least those who can afford it.



Electricity-run room heaters are a non-starter when there’s not enough power to light up a couple of CFC bulbs. As if that were not enough, the Nepal Electricity Authority has announced an extra four hours of power cut, taking the daily tally up to a whopping 14 hours. Wait, there is more to come. The country better brace itself, NEA says, for up to 19 hours of load shedding a day.



Nepalis meanwhile are being persuaded to accept the Faustian bargain of increased hours of power cut with up to 20 percent hike in electricity tariffs. Thankfully, the Supreme Court has shot down the proposed increase (the Electricity Tariff Fixation Rules 1994 limits annual tariff hike to five percent) for a time being. Interestingly, the Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission (ETFC) tasked with proposing tariff rates to the government now seems in favor of the exorbitant increase.



But ETFC had, during the tenures of two previous governments, stood firm against any proposed tariff revision unless the government first plugged the loopholes in the current power generation and distribution system. Constant pressure from Independent Power Producers (IIPs) who have for sometime been demanding higher prices for the power they contribute to the national grid seems to have, finally, taken its toll on the ETFC.



People are surely not bemused at the bureaucratic nightmare that is Nepal’s messy power system. The least they expect is for the NEA to plug its loopholes: 30 percent loss of electricity is way too much even for a half-functioning NEA bureaucracy. Students are losing out on precious hours of study, industries running at half-capacity, shops being forced to shutter early in the evening.



The witch’s brew of bitter cold and foreboding darkness must make plenty think: If the state cannot provide them with half a day of uninterrupted electricity, clean water to last half a week and enough firewood and clothes to those who run an imminent risk of freezing to death, isn’t it possible that they are being sold down the river by lofty promises of radical political and socio-economic changes? Even if there is a constitution by May end (a big if), one thing is for sure: the country would be long way from lasting solutions to its power woes.

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Lights Out