January 20: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has achieved a remarkable success in controlling electricity leakage.
The NEA has reduced the power leakage to 7.49 per cent in the distribution side in the first five months of the current fiscal year, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority.

Power leakage was 9.23 per cent in the distribution side in the first five months of the last fiscal year, which fell by 1.74 per cent during the same period this fiscal. 

By the end of the fifth month of the current fiscal year, the distribution system has received 4.147 billion units of electricity. Out of it, 3.836 billion units of electricity were sold, while 31.779 million units of electricity leaked. 

Power leakage on transmission side stands at 4.56 percent till the end of the fifth month of the same period. Power leakage of the total system including distribution and transmission side stands at 12.5 per cent. 

Electricity leakage of the entire system was 15.38 per cent till 15 July, 2022. 
The largest part of the power leakage in the system is on the distribution side. The Authority has set a target of reducing the electricity leakage of the overall system to 14 percent and the distribution leakage to 8.5 percent in the current fiscal year.

The power leakage on distribution side that was 22 per cent around seven years ago has come down to 7.49 per cent , which is a great achievement, said Executive Director Kulman Ghising of the Nepal Electricity Authority.

Ghising said that NEA had deployed its staffers to reduce the leakage below its target by making steps launched to control technical and non-technical leakage effective. 

“During this period, new substations have been constructed, the existing substations have been upgraded, electricity consumption has increased in the industrial sector, meter reading has been made effective, and the leakages have decreased due to the accumulated unit billing of customers," Ghising said. 

Regular monitoring and action against the power theft, strengthening overloaded substations and feeder lines, construction of new substations, and replacement of conductors have led to the fall of power leakage , said NEA Executive Director Ghising. 

Increasing the capacity of substations, adding conductors, changing overloaded transformers, and encouraging the use of three-phase meters have caused the leakage to subside. 

The NEA has launched various measures as campaign to control the power leakage. The NEA has stepped up efforts to control power theft and collect arrears and adopted strict actions against those who steal power, replace and bypass meters. 

Out of the distribution centers under the NEA’s seven regional offices and two provincial division offices, Madhesh Province Regional Office, Janakpur has the highest electricity leakage. The total electricity leakage of 23 distribution centers under Janakpur Regional Office is 12.80 percent till mid-December.