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Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated a review process to make the electricity tariff structure timely.

A meeting of the NEA Board of Directors held at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation on Wednesday decided to form the committee with a 15-day deadline to review the existing tariff structure and prepare a new proposal.

The committee, coordinated by NEA Board member Amshu Kiran Shahi, includes representatives from the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, experts from the energy and finance sectors, consumer representatives and the deputy managing director of the Distribution and Consumer Services Directorate of the NEA as member-secretary.

Based on the report prepared by the committee, the process will be taken up with the Electricity Regulatory Commission for determining the new tariff. According to Shahi, hydropower production has increased significantly in recent years.

Especially as the electricity generated during the rainy season cannot be fully consumed, a policy to increase domestic consumption has been seen necessary. In that context, preparations have been made to improve the tariff structure targeting the household and industrial sectors, he said.

The NEA said that it aims to provide additional concessions to domestic consumers and provide electricity at appropriate rates to manufacturing industries that consume high electricity. This is expected to reduce the monthly electricity expenditure of consumers and reduce the production cost of industries.

Similarly, the NEA Board of Directors meeting has also formed another separate investigation committee to study complaints and grievances related to past procurement processes and ongoing projects.

Three experts related to technical, legal, and public procurement will be members under the coordination of Board of Directors member Shambhu KC, while the Deputy Managing Director designated by the Authority will be the member-secretary.

The investigation committee has been given the responsibility of studying past procurement processes, operational projects, and complaints received and submitting a report within two months with suggestions for improvement.