The government’s decision to reconnect electricity supply to defaulting industries has courted controversy. An emergency Cabinet meeting on Sunday decided to reconnect electricity lines to the industries within 24 hours against the policy of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). The state-owned power utility has adopted a policy to recover the dues by disconnecting the electricity supply to pressure the industries for compliance.

Leaders of opposition political parties and worker unions of the NEA have taken strong exception to this controversial decision. Issuing a joint press release, worker unions of the NEA have criticized the government decision to take the side of the industrialists who have been denying paying the dues of electricity. “We have been deeply concerned by the undue interference by various power centers, so that the industries can avoid paying the outstanding dues,” reads the statement.

The government on Monday wrote a letter to the NEA to recover the outstanding dues from the industries for using dedicated feeders and trunk lines within 15 days based on the recommendation made by a commission led by former justice of the Supreme Court, Girish Chandra Lal.

Making public a six-month old report prepared by the commission on Monday, the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI), sent the letter to the state-owned power utility to collect the due amounts based on the Time-of-Day (TOD) meter data.

Energy Minister Deepak Khadka confirmed during a press meet on Monday that the government has decided to reconnect the electricity supply lines to the industries within 24 hours.

The issue flared up amid the ongoing tussle between the NEA and the industrialists after the NEA cut off electricity supply to 34 production plants two weeks ago on the pretext of failing to pay their arrears within the given deadline.

Citing power outage issues, the NEA, in 2015, enforced the rule to impose additional fees on industries that consume lots of energy through the dedicated feeder and trunk lines during the period of load shedding. The NEA had charged 65 percent as premium charge for the users of dedicated feeders and trunk lines on top of the normal tariff.

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.

Aiming to solve the issue, the government on January 9 formed a commission under the leadership of former Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal with joint secretaries of the MoEWRI and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) as members. The commission submitted its report to the government in April.

The commission suggested the state-owned power utility take premium charges of electricity used during the period of February 2016 to April 2018. However, it has recommended charging a special fee based on the consumption amount recorded by the TOD meter.

The commission report states that the NEA had attempted to redefine the definitions of dedicated line and feeders while amending its bylaws. “However, it is not the NEA but the Electricity Fixation Commission that has the full authority to fix the tariff rates,” the report says.

As the industrialists used the electricity supplied under condition during the period, they are liable to pay the amount, however it should be based on records of TOD meters, the report added. NEA has to abide by the law while issuing electricity bills to its customers otherwise it will lose trust from its customers about its functioning, added the report.