There is no load shedding: NEA

Kathmandu, Mar. 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said on Sunday that there was no load-shedding across the country, including the Kathmandu Valley, and a situation where power would have to be cut was unlikely to arise. 

It said, however, there was still load-shedding in the industrial sector for a few hours every day.

“Apart from the industrial customers, there is no power cut. 

Sometimes technical disturbances cause black outs, but no one should take it as load-shedding,” said NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghishing. 

According to the NEA, people might face more short-term power cuts during the dry season due to tripping caused by disruptions in the transmission and distribution system. 

Such problems happen during the dry season as high winds bring down transmission lines and electricity poles. But there would not be long hours of load-shedding as in the past. 

“The NEA has kept technical teams on standby across the country 24 hours a day. The Minister for Energy has directed the Authority to fix the weaknesses and obstructions and supply power regularly, so we are working accordingly,” said Ghishing.

He said that work such as laying pipes for water supply, shifting electricity poles and transformers also cause power cuts for a brief period or for a couple of days. 

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun had directed the state-owned electricity monopoly to resolve the current technical problems in the power supply and create a situation for seamless energy flow. 

NEA spokesperson Prabal Adhikari said that the NEA had given priority to changing the conductors to make the energy supply reliable, and enhancing the capacity of the feeder and transformer as per the demand to solve power tripping. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 26 March 2018.