As the Supreme Court refused to legitimise the inquiry committee formed by the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation to settle the billing dispute on dedicated feeders and trunk lines, two industries that had utilised the dedicated power supply services have begun paying their dues to the Nepal Electricity Authority.

Two of the several industrial firms that used electricity 24 hours daily (from July 2015, to June 2020), at a time when general people were facing the brunt of loadshedding, deposited their first and second tranches of the dues they owed to the utility on Friday.

The two firms had earlier denied paying dues.

Laxmi Steels and Sarbottam Cement deposited their tranches of their dues on Friday, according to Chandan Kumar Gosh, spokesperson for the NEA.

Energy Minister Dipak Khadka last week formed a three-member committee led by former National Planning Commission member Arvind Kumar Mishra with the former NEA official Shree Ram Pandey and chartered accountant Sujan Kaphle as members to study the issue of billings and offer recommendations to the government.

Issuing an interim order, the Supreme Court earlier this month ordered the committee not to carry out the tasks. Against the minister’s decision to form the inquiry panel, NEA chief Kul Man Ghising had insisted that such a panel, if needed, should be formed by the Electricity Regulatory Commission—not by the ministry.

After the firms defaulted in clearing their bills, the NEA had halted power supply to 34 industrial firms last October, forcing some industrialists to pay the instalments.

But recently, even those that had started paying instalments stopped, bringing the total number of defaulting industries to 41.

The NEA has now allowed industrialists to pay their pending dues in 56 instalments. Previously, they were supposed to pay the dues in 28 tranches.

The interim order was issued by a joint bench of justices Sharanga Subedi and Tek Prasad Dhungana on March 18, ordering the committee not to examine the pending dues of those consumers who used electricity under dedicated feeders and trunk lines.

The court issued the interim order, after hearing the writ petition filed by advocate Khadananda Kandel saying that the committee’s formation was unlawful.

“Electricity tariffs are to be determined and collected in accordance with the relevant laws as per the Nepal Electricity Authority Act 1984, the Electricity Distribution Regulations 2012, and the Electricity Tariff Collection Regulations 2016,” says the court order. “However, rather than implementing the November 10 decision of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Energy, through a ministerial decision on November 17, appointed a committee to conduct the necessary administrative and technical investigations regarding outstanding electricity dues and reports.”

Aside from the lack of a working procedure for the committee, the decision also failed to declare the legal basis upon which it was set up. As it is, at prima facie, the decision to form the committee by the ministry is beyond the jurisdiction, further reads the courts order.

The NEA disconnected the power to the industries that failed to pay their dues on October 24 last year. However, the Council of Ministers, in its meeting on November 10, decided to restore the power to such industries, warning of a supply disruption again if they failed to pay their dues within 15 days.

The industries did not clear their dues within the given time. The ministry directed the NEA not to disconnect the power until the committee formed to study the Time of Day (TOD) meters submitted its report.

The ministry formed a committee to investigate the TOD power usage by the industries that had yet to clear their arrears. Since its formation, there had been a dispute between the ministry and the NEA regarding its legitimacy. Thus, even in four months, the committee was unable to complete its assigned tasks.

When Minister Khadka, at the NEA board meeting on December 19, proposed using NEA funds to pay allowances, meet operational expenses and for vehicles, NEA Executive Director Ghising and two other board members—Ratan Ayer and Bharat Acharya—objected. Stating that the committee’s legality was under question, they registered their ‘note of dissent’ against the decision to use the NEA funds for such purposes.

Minister Khadka and NEA chief Ghising are at loggerheads over recovering the dues worth billions of rupees from the industrialists for using the dedicated power supply.

Ministry spokesperson Sandip Dev said the ministry will now hold discussions with all the stakeholders about the next step in view of the court’s latest order and the shortfall in power supply in recent days.

“We have not yet come to a decision about what to do next in the given circumstances,” Dev said.