Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has said that there will be no power shortage during Tihar – the festival of lights and colours.

“NEA will supply uninterrupted power during Tihar and especially on ‘Laxmi Puja’, when the demand for electricity peaks,” said Kul Man Ghising, managing director of NEA.

NEA has forecast that during the Tihar festival the country will require 1,280 megawatts of electricity. We are in a comfortable position to meet the demand this year as compared to last year. In 2017, during Tihar the demand for electricity had reached 1,350 megawatts.

Ghising informed that the water level in the Kulekhani reservoir has reached 1,226 metres this year, which is more than comfortable to meet the demand for power.

“We have the option to utilise the Kulekhani hydropower project, which acts like a battery back-up for Kathmandu Valley,” Ghising stated. “We will also be able to import more electricity from India via the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line, which NEA has recently upgraded to 220 kVA capacity.”

Meanwhile, to ensure uninterrupted power supply, NEA today directed its staffers under production, operation and maintenance departments not to leave their duty stations during Tihar.