January 14: Three weeks after disconnecting electricity supply to 24 industries for non-payment of electricity dues for dedicated feeder and trunk lines, the Nepal Electricity Authority has reconnected the supply lines.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday formed an investigation committee to resolve the tariff dispute and directed the NEA to immediately reconnect electricity to all the industries whose lines were cut.

Four days after the cabinet decision, a meeting of the board of directors of the NEA decided to reconnect electricity to the industries whose lines were cut. Following the board’s decision, NEA reconnected electricity to all industries on Friday.

Suresh Bhattarai, information officer of the NEA, informed that the work of reconnecting electricity to all the industries whose lines were cut has been completed by Friday midnight. According to him, the Council of Ministers decided to reconnect the line, so the lines were connected even though the dispute has not been resolved.

A total of 61 industries have yet to pay Rs 22.24 billion to the authority for using the facility of dedicated and trunk lines. Among them, Himal Steel paid the outstanding amount in installment last Monday. The NEA connected the line of Himal Steel after it paid the first installment.

The authority had disconnected the lines of the industries in different stages from December 22. In the first phase, the lines of Jagdamba Steel, Ghorahi Cement, Reliance Spinning Mills and Arghakhanchi Cement were cut. In the second phase, NEA cut the lines of Sonapur Minerals and Oil Ltd, Lakshmi Steel, Sarvottam Cement, Ashok Steel, and Triveni Spinning Mills.

In the third phase, it stopped electricity supply to Baba Jute Mill, Siddharth Cement, Triveni Synthetic, Himal Iron and Steel, Jagdamba Enterprises, Hama Iron, Everest Paper Mill, Cosmos Cement, Shubhashree Agni Cement, Jagdamba Synthetic, Gharana Foods, Narayani Spat and Butwal Cement followed by the disconnection of electricity line of Hulas Steel.