Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)'s Managing Director (MD) Kulman Ghising has stated that electricity supply to various industries that was disconnected will be reconnected immediately as per the government's directive. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Ghising mentioned that it is the NEA's responsibility to implement the government's decisions, so the lines will be reconnected without delay.

“Nepal Electricity Authority is an organization established under the Nepal Electricity Authority Act 2041 BS, so it is our duty to follow the directives of the Government of Nepal,” said Ghising. “We are in the process of implementing the government's decision to reconnect the disconnected lines.”

The NEA disconnected the electricity supply lines of 39 industries on October 24 for the latter’s failure to pay the bills for power supplied through dedicated and trunk lines.

“There has been a directive to reconnect the lines for now, with the goal of collecting the dues within 15 days. We will work to collect the outstanding amount within this period. We hope they will pay the dues as per the government's directive within 15 days,” said Ghising.

Ghising shared an example where the NEA had followed administrative directives during the disconnection of lines on three previous occasions. He said, "This is the fourth time. Once again, an administrative directive has been issued for the fourth time."

He mentioned that the lines of 14 industries, which had agreed to pay in 28 installments, have already been reconnected. He further stated that there is an issue with a total of 39 industries, seven of which have received stay orders, and 28 industries have not paid any installments.

"If they do not pay within 15 days or if they do not receive the bill we issued, we will resume our process," he said. "The government has already stated that the outstanding amount must be collected within 15 days." He expressed confidence that if the dues are not collected within 15 days, the government and the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources will take action to recover the dues.

He also reminded that a three-month period was previously given to pay the outstanding amount. He said, "If the dues are not paid after 15 days, this will no longer be just an issue for the government, ministry, and the NEA; it will become a matter of public concern. The general public is also beginning to take this issue seriously."

Ghising stated that repeatedly disconnecting and reconnecting the lines will not be allowed if the outstanding dues are not cleared.

Ghising has accused industrialists of politicizing the issue instead of paying the outstanding dues for power received through trunk and dedicated lines.

He said, "Instead of paying the dues, the industrialists continue to create more controversies and politicize the issue. Before the line is cut, production is already made. There is enough production for a month. They do not come forward to reconnect the line until the goods are sold. After 10-15 days of the line being cut, they resort to emotional blackmail, saying unemployment has increased and the economic situation has worsened, forcing the government to take a decision in their favor."

He said, “There was emotional blackmailing saying that unemployment had increased and Nepal's economy was devastated, which forced the government to give directives.'"

He mentioned that not paying the dues would be unjust.

He added, "If the NEA's financial condition shrinks, it will have a negative impact on all sectors, even more than if an industry shuts down."

He accused the industrialists of taking advantage during the load-shedding period by using electricity and now trying to influence the government to avoid paying their dues.

Despite repeated warnings from the NEA, the industries refused to pay their dues, claiming they had not received evidence, leading to the disconnection of the lines of 34 industries on October 24. Among them, six industries have started paying the dues in installments. As per a decision of the Cabinet meeting on October 25, the NEA reconnected the lines of 28 industries last night.

Earlier, the NEA had disconnected the lines of six industries in mid-July and 24 industries in January of the previous year. In both instances, the industries appealed to the political leadership to reconnect the lines.

Ghising stated that the bills issued by the NEA for industries benefiting from dedicated and trunk lines are correct.

"The bills are correct. They were issued based on data under the TOD meter. The court and the Electricity Regulatory Commission have also confirmed that the bill is accurate," he said. "Ninety cases have already been dismissed. The regulatory commission has stated that the line will not be reconnected until at least one installment is paid."

He said that the bills previously sent to the industries will not be revised. "The court and the regulatory commission have not stated that the bill is incorrect. We will follow the government's decision. The government has also not declared the bill to be wrong. Please refer to the decision of the Cabinet," he said.

He subtly expressed dissatisfaction with the report of the Girish Chandra Lal High-Level Commission. "It is the Electricity Regulatory Commission and the court that determine whether the bill is correct. Other administrative bodies cannot say the bill is wrong," he said.

Ghising stated that industries have no option but to pay the outstanding dues as per the NEA's rules. He mentioned that if the NEA fails to collect dues from industries that have benefited from the dedicated lines, the NEA would face a financially difficult situation.

"Such activities are seen to be severely affecting the financial condition of the authority. The problem in collecting revenue from large customers has caused even smaller ones to start delaying payments. Previously, up to 95 percent of revenue was collected, but now only 80-85 percent is being collected," he said.

The NEA pays energy producers Rs 7 billion to Rs 8 billion monthly from the revenue collected from customers. Around Rs 2 billion is spent monthly by the NEA. Ghising stated that in order to prevent the NEA's financial condition from deteriorating, monthly revenue collection must exceed Rs 11 billion.

In 2015, during a time when there was 18 hours of daily load shedding, 237 industries began receiving electricity through dedicated and trunk lines from the month of Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August), agreeing to pay premium charges.

However, at that time, the tariff had not been determined. Therefore, in 2018, the government formed a committee under the chairmanship of then secretary Dinesh Kumar Ghimire at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, and later, on January 9 of the previous year, an high-level commission was formed under the leadership of former Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal.

Both the committee and the commission recommended that since the tariff was determined only on January 16, 2016, the dues from January 2019 to May 2018 should be collected. The government decided to implement this recommendation. Accordingly, the NEA calculated a total outstanding amount of Rs 6.6 billion, excluding a 25 percent penalty, for 61 industries, and correspondence was made in mid-June 2024.

By Samiksha Shrestha