Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has expressed his commitment to resolving the dedicated and trunk line dispute that has been ongoing for six years.

He expressed this commitment during a meeting with industrialists related to dedicated and trunk lines on Wednesday morning.

In this dispute, the Nepal Electricity Authority has currently cut the lines of six industries. An industrialist who participated in the meeting told Onlinekhabar that Prime Minister Oli said cutting the lines would not resolve the issue and promised to reconnect the lines soon to resolve the dispute.

“Some of the industries whose lines have been cut are export-oriented. Their production has stopped, and orders are on the verge of being canceled, as I have been informed,” the industrialist quoted the Prime Minister as saying. “The problem must be resolved, and I will do it soon.

The previous government led by Prachanda had formed an investigative commission chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal to resolve the disputes related to dedicated and trunk lines.

The commission had recommended that premium charges for dedicated and trunk lines before Jan \ Feb 2016 and after April \ May 2018 could not be collected. However, for the period in between, charges could be collected by recalculating based on the days and duration of electricity usage.

The Cabinet meeting on May 10 had decided to implement the commission’s recommendations. However, under pressure from the Managing Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority, Kulman Ghising, the then Chief Secretary Baikuntha Aryal sent a letter for implementation, altering the content of the Cabinet meeting.

Misinterpreting the Cabinet meeting’s decision, the Nepal Electricity Authority sent a letter to collect charges for the entire period from January 2016 to April 2018 based on the old billing system.

However, the industrialists have not paid the charges, stating that the authority has not provided the basis for the billing or the data from the TOD meters.

Energy Minister summons Authority and industrialists

Energy Minister Deepak Khadka has summoned the Nepal Electricity Authority and industrialists to the ministry today for discussions to resolve the dedicated and trunk line dispute.

The meeting has been called to discuss with both parties in light of the industrialists’ complaints regarding the implementation of the Cabinet’s decision and their submission of a petition to the ministry, Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation Ministry spokesperson Nabin Raj Singh told Onlinekhabar.

The industrialists have also acknowledged the call for the meeting from the Energy Ministry.

‘It seems like this meeting was initiated by the Authority itself. We will see how committed the Minister is to resolving the issue once we meet,’ said an industrialist.

What is the dispute over dedicated and trunk lines?

Since 2018, there has been a dispute between the Nepal Electricity Authority and industrialists regarding the payment of electricity tariffs distributed through dedicated feeders and trunk lines. In this dispute, the Authority had cut off the power lines of 24 industries back in the first week of last December.

During peak load shedding hours, which are regularly from 20 to 24 hours, meaning industries that require uninterrupted power supply during load shedding, the Authority provided electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines, charging up to an additional 65 percent premium fee.

Those customers who did not need to rely on load shedding were also informed about the additional premium charges, which were explained as regular. However, the dispute arose when the Nepal Electricity Authority sent letters in 2018 to 61 industries to settle outstanding bills. Premium charges for dedicated and trunk lines have been in effect since July 2015, continuing until July 2020.

Various government hospitals, offices, and private industries, totaling 298 customers, have also opted for such lines. This has led to a dispute recently over the bills of 61 industries.

Some industries have been accused by the Nepal Electricity Authority of using electricity at higher rates during peak hours but paying bills at regular rates. Therefore, the Authority claims that it has cut bills of some industries that should not have been exempt from paying premium charges.

According to their usage, the industrialists are prepared to provide evidence showing at what times they used how much electricity, even though the Authority should provide evidence regarding when they allowed power usage.

Meanwhile, based on evidence that the Electricity Regulatory Commission reached an agreement with customers using electricity from dedicated and trunk lines, the Authority was only allowed to collect fees.

However, even after that, when the dispute was not resolved, the Cabinet formed a commission on Jan 9, 2024 . The commission submitted a report to the government on May 5, 2024 , including recommendations. In the same report, it was recommended that the Authority should not collect premium charges for the period before Dec 2015 and after April 2018.

From Jan 2016 to April 2018, it has been recommended that industries should be billed based on a recalculated certainty of the days and duration they used electricity.

The decision to implement the recommendations of this commission was made by the Cabinet on 9 May, 2024. At that time, the then Chief Secretary Baikuntha Aryal had sent two separate letters to the Ministry of Energy with different concerns. Based on the second letter, the Electricity Authority recalculated the bills and started collecting arrears based on old bills, leading to renewed disputes after industrialists kept records of bill bases and TOD meters unavailable. Consequently, the Authority has cut off the lines of six major industries, claiming overbilling, causing other industries’ operators to cut their own lines.

Source: Online Khabar