Electricity leakage slightly increased by mid-May compared to past two months though Nepal Electricity Authority claimed that leakages have been reported within the target set for the current fiscal year.

According to the NEA, its leakages increased to 14.89 percent by mid-May from 14.63 percent in mid-April. The leakage in mid-March stood at 14.2 percent.

“In the summer, consumption of electricity rises in the Tarai region for cooling equipment including fans. When consumption rises, the flow of power on the transmission and distribution line goes up leading to a proportionate rise in losses of electricity,” said a senior official of NEA who didn't want to be quoted.

The official however said that leakages stood well below the target. “Our target for leakage control is to maintain it to maximum 15.5 percent,” the official said.

Suresh Bhattarai, spokepserson for NEA said there has not been a significant change in leakages in the recent months.

“But we have been able to reduce leakage substantially but gradually in recent years,” he said.

According to NEA, leakages from the distribution network ( wired network reaching to households) is much higher than the transmission lines. According to NEA, losses from the distribution network were 10.41 percent while transmission line losses stood at 4.48 percent.

Mainly the leakages have grown from the distribution network while transmission line based leakages are more or less the same. Leakages from the distribution network increased to 10.41 percent by mid-May from 9.62 percent in mid-March, according to NEA.

“Theft of electricity by hooking is another reason behind leakage in distribution lines,” said the NEA official. “Such theft is high in the Tarai region though incident of theft has decreased sharply in the recent years.”

The official said in the past the NEA used to catch 15-20 people red handed in an inspection whose number has decreased to 2-3 people. Karnali provincial distribution office reported highest distribution network based leakage at 16.8 percent as of mid-May while Hetauda divisional distribution office reported the lowest leakage of 5.75 percent, according to NEA.

“There is low consumption of electricity in Karnali, distribution lines are long and transmission line capacity is mostly 11kV only which leads to higher losses of power,” said the NEA official. “The 33kV transmission line has reached only to Surkhet in the province.”

In fact, thet

Since Kul Man Ghising returned as managing director of the state-owned power utility body in August, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has markedly improved performance in leakage control. Ghising was appointed as managing director of NEA again in early August last year.

Before his arrival, electricity leakage had reached 17.18 percent at the end of last fiscal year 2020-21 from 15.27 percent in the previous fiscal year 2019-20, according to the NEA.

“But there is still room for improvement,” said an NEA official. “We can reduce the leakages 11-12 percent.”