Kathmandu – The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is checking if big industries still owe money for using special electricity lines after a recent complaint by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
On September 6, in a Parliament meeting, Prime Minister Oli said that industries owe NPR 22 billion for electricity. He criticized NEA’s boss, Kulman Ghising, for collecting only NPR 6 billion. This has made NEA start reviewing the unpaid bills for 62 industries, including late fees.
NEA is looking at three different times:
- Shrawan 2072 BS to Poush 2072 BS
- Mangsir 2072 BS to Baisakh 2075 BS
- Jestha 2075 BS to Ashad 2077 BS
An NEA worker said, "We first used a report that told us to collect money for the time between Mangsir 2072 BS and Baisakh 2075 BS. We calculated NPR 6.6 billion, not counting late fees. Now, we are rechecking everything to make sure it’s correct."
The review is led by a seven-member team, headed by Ganesh Luitel, who was chosen on April 27, 2024. They are working on getting the new total very soon.
Prime Minister Oli wants to collect NPR 22 billion, but some say NPR 24 billion is owed. This puts more pressure on Kulman Ghising and NEA to figure out the correct amount.
This issue has been going on for a long time. In 2076 BS, a committee was formed to collect money only for the time between Mangsir 2072 BS and Baisakh 2075 BS. Now, some are saying NPR 16 billion was not collected, even though Oli had supported industries not paying earlier.
The Supreme Court had also said that dues should be collected for the same time period, which led to a figure of NPR 6.6 billion. Kulman Ghising even cut off power to six big industries for not paying, which caused more conflict.
The NEA is still working on its new calculations, and the issue remains unresolved.