KATHMANDU, August 12: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has succeeded in reducing the leakage of electricity through the transmission and distribution system by half over the last eight years.

Nearly 26% electricity used to leak from the system until the fiscal year 2015/16, according to the NEA. It has been brought down to nearly 13% in the last year, 2023/24, added the state-owned electricity utility.

Of the total, 3.33% leakage has been through the transmission lines and 9.40% through the distribution system. 

Kulman Ghising, managing director of NEA, claimed that Nepal’s leakage ratio was lower than that of the neighboring countries. He further said that the NEA made around Rs 12 billion annually in additional income from leakage control in the review period.

“The campaign conducted to control technical and non-technical leakage has paid off and the leakage of electricity towards distribution has decreased significantly,” said Ghising.

According to NEA, the earnings are being invested in system expansion and improvement, aiming to bring down the leakage to a single digit. -- RSS