KATHMANDU, July 20: The Board of Directors of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has decided that industrial power lines will not be reconnected solely based on verbal instructions from the prime minister.

The NEA Board of Directors took the decision during a meeting held at the Ministry of Energy on Friday night. "Power supply cannot be restored based on someone's verbal instruction," a Board member said, emphasizing that a written directive is required to do so.

The meeting was chaired by Energy Minister Deepak Khadka, with other Board members including the Secretary at the Ministry of Energy and the Secretary at the Revenue Department.

During the meeting, Minister Khadka proposed reconnecting the lines immediately as per the prime minister's directive, with formal arrangements to be completed through the written process at a later date. However, this proposal was rejected by other members. The meeting ended late at night without any consensus on restoring the power supply to those industries failing to settle their outstanding tariff charges.

On Friday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had directed Energy Minister Khadka, Energy Secretary and NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising to restore power supply immediately to six industries. 

There has been a long-standing dispute between the NEA and the industries regarding the tariff of the dedicated feeder and trunk lines used by the industrialists during the time of load shedding. 

Under the dedicated feeder service, a factory that needed high voltage lines was permitted to receive direct electricity from a nearby substation, while those using trunk lines were provided with regular electricity directly through two substations. Citing power outage issues, the NEA, in 2015, enforced the rule to impose additional fees on industries that consume lots of energy. 

The government on January 9 had formed a committee to resolve the dispute under the leadership of former Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal with joint secretaries of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI) and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) as members.

On May 5, the committee submitted its report to the government recommending not to take premium charges of the dedicated feeders and trunk lines from the industrialists for the first six months during mid-July, 2015 and mid-January, 2016. Likewise, the inquiry report also talks about waiving the premium charges of the period beyond June 2018, when the government declared the end of the loadshedding in the country. Manufacturers have long been expressing their dissatisfaction citing the NEA’s attempt to take premium charges of these time periods too.

Few days ago, the NEA cut the electricity supply lines of five production plants including Arghakhachi Cement, Reliance Spinning Mills, Gorahi Cement, Jagadamba Synthetic and Hulas Steel.

According to the NEA official, the power utility will cut the electricity lines of remaining 56 companies successively if they do not show intention to pay the amounts on their part.  

A total of 61 manufacturing companies are left to pay cumulative dues of Rs 6.60 billion.

 
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