Electricity leakage reduced by half in eight years

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Aug. 12: The Nepal Electricity Authority has made significant achievement in controlling electricity leakage under the transmission and distribution system during the last eight years.

In the fiscal year 2015/16, the electricity leakage from the system was 25.78 per cent which has been reduced by half and limited to 12.73 per cent in the last year 2023/24.

According to the NEA, out of the electricity leakage, 3.33 per cent is under transmission line and 9.40 per cent under distribution system. 

Eight years ago, out of 25.78 per cent leakage, 19.80 per cent was under distribution and the rest under transmission.

Electricity leakage was reduced to 22.90 per cent in 2016/17, 20.45 per cent in 2017/18, 15.32 per cent in 2018/19, and 15.27 per cent in 2019/20. 

However, in the fiscal year 2020/21, the leakage increased to 17.18 per cent. After that, the leakage was reduced to 15.38 per cent in the year 202021/22 and 13.46 per cent in the year 2022/23.

Managing Director of NEA Kul Man Ghising said that by making the steps taken for leakage control more systematic and effective, great success has been achieved in leakage control during the eight years. 

He said that the steps taken to ensure regular power supply and control technical and non-technical leakages after load shedding have had a positive effect on the control of electricity leakage towards distribution lines.

"Due to the leakage of electricity in the system, billions of dollars of income were being lost directly. Due to the campaign advanced to control technical and non-technical leakage, the leakage of electricity towards distribution has decreased significantly and this ratio is lower than neighbouring countries," said Ghising.

“Only from leakage control, we have made an income of about Rs. 12 billion yearly during this period. If we succeed in collecting the lost amount, its direct positive effect is seen in the profit of the Authority. We are investing the money earned from the profit in system expansion and improvement. We are moving forward with the goal of reducing leakage to a single digit," he said.

The technical leakages have been controlled by the operation of large capacity transmission and substation lines, increasing and strengthening substation capacity, adding conductors, changing overloaded transformers, encouraging the use of three-phase and smart meters.

Ghising said that with the help and support of the distribution and customer service managers and employees working day and night, home administration and everyone else, the NEA has succeeded in reducing the leakage.

In the year 2015/16, the Authority had a net loss of Rs. 8.89 billion and earned a net profit of Rs 1.55 billion in the year 2016/17. Since then, NEA has been making profit. The NEA has earned net profit of Rs. 13.31 billion in the last fiscal year 2023/24.

Eight years ago, the Authority had an accumulated loss of Rs. 34.61 billion, and last year it reached an accumulated profit of Rs. 47.41 billion.