Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been able to reduce overall leakage of electricity to 12.59 percent, a drop of 2.79 percentage points in the past one year.

According to the NEA, the electricity leakage in mid-February 2022 stood at 15.38 percent. It included the loss in transmission system and distribution system.

The distributional loss in the review period came down to 7.99 percent from 9.65 percent, a drop of 1.66 percentage points. Similarly, the electricity leakage in transmission lines was reduced to 4.60 percent over the period.

Out of 5.7322 billion units of the electricity available in the distribution system, the state-owned utility sold 5.2741 billion units, while a total of 45.8 million units went to waste.

NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising said the initiative taken by NEA to check the technical and non-technical losses has taken down the overall leakage in the distribution system. According to him, stern measures taken by the NEA to control electricity theft and regular monitoring to recover outstanding dues in electricity bills have yielded positive outcomes.

Ghising added that the replacement of old conductors and transformers along with the upgradation of substations and promotion of three-phase meters in industries have also helped check the electricity leakage.

Province-wise, the NEA achieved nominal success in reducing electricity leakage in Madhesh Province. According to the state-owned public utility, the leakage in the areas under Malangwa Distribution Center of Sarlahi stood at 40.97 percent, the highest of all. Last year, the leakage in the location was 41.86 percent.

The distributional loss comprises the largest shares in the total electricity loss of the NEA. The authority has targeted to reduce the overall electricity leakage to 14 percent and distributional loss to 8.5 percent by the end of the current fiscal year.

For the past few years, the NEA has been earning notable profits mainly due to an improvement in leakages. In the fiscal year 2021/22, it earned a net profit of Rs 16.09 billion, more than double of the amount earned in the previous year.