Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has decided to restore power supply to the industries by Tuesday, November 12, evening.
The meeting of the Board of Directors of NEA, the state-owned power utility, held on Tuesday morning made the decision.
NEA had earlier cut off industries, which disagreed to clear their outstanding dues for the power used through dedicated feeders and trunk lines during the load shedding period, from the national transmission grid. The authority and the industries have been at odds over the amount to be paid.
The private industries, public facilities and offices were provided the uninterrupted supply of electricity even during the peak load-shedding hours by charging the beneficiaries up to 65 percent premium fee.
Decision to resume power supply follows the publication of the Lal Commission Report the previous day.
To resolve the conflict, the government had formed an inquiry commission led by the former Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal on January 9, 2024.
Read: Businesses Stand Firm on Non-payment, NEA Warns Line Cuts
Read: NEA Cuts Power Supply to Industries Refusing to Pay Dues
The report has recommended suggestions on core issues of contention and provided the definition of dedicated and trunk lines, their objectives and criteria for determining the tariff and verdicts of various courts on the matter among others.
The Commission, in its report, stated that the arrears relating to the dedicated feeders and trunk lines should be collected on the basis of Time of Day (ToD) metres data.
After the publication of the report on Monday, months after the commission had submitted it to the government, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Deepak Khadka had said that the power supply to the industries would be restored within 24 hours and the outstanding dues would be collected within 15 days.
Read: Industries Refuse to Pay Reduced Tariff for Using Dedicated Feeder and Trunk Line
Read: Production of 32 Industries Halted due to Power Cut
The government has concluded that disconnecting the electricity supply to the industries was not a viable solution to the issue.
The report has classified the duration of usage of dedicated feeders and trunk line into three timelines starting from July to December 2015 followed by January 2016 to April 2018 and from May 2018 to 2022.
Read: NEA comes up with Five-Year Installment Facility for Payment of Dedicated and Trunk Line Dues
The report stipulates that the arrears during the second timeline (January 2016 to April 2018) should be collected while the industries should be exempted from paying the bills for the first and third timelines.
NEA has been trying to collect Rs 8.04 billion in outstanding fees, including the fines, claiming it to be in line with the commission’s recommendation.
