Govt mulls revising power tariff
KATHMANDU, SEP 06 -
Once again, the government is considering revising power tariff to rescue Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) from financial crisis.
The Ministry of Energy (MoE), launching a relief work-plan for the hydro sector on Sunday, urged the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)to re-establish the Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission (ETFC) which was dissolved in the third week of March. The ministry has proposed the PMO to appoint new members of the commission within the next two weeks, according to Energy Secretary Balananda Sharma.
As per the work-plan, the commission should submit its final report within a month after its formation.
Power tariff in the country has not been adjusted for the last 10 years which has caused NEA huge financial losses. The authority had earlier proposed to hike the tariff by around 25 percent to Rs 9 per unit on an average. Existing tariff stands at Rs 7 per unit. NEA says hiking power tariff is a must if it has to increase the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate.
NEA officials say the authority incurring a loss Rs 2.5 per unit. While NEA’s buys power at around Rs 9 per unit, the selling price stands at around Rs 7. The proposed hike is necessary to neutralise NEA’s annual loss.
“It is an irony NEA doesn’t have the right to fix the price of its own product, while other public utilities like Nepal Telecom are free to decide on this front,” said a top NEA official. “Despite being well aware of the fact that NEA is bearing huge losses due to low power tariff, the government is reluctant to hike the electricity price.”
Source: Kantipur
Once again, the government is considering revising power tariff to rescue Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) from financial crisis.
The Ministry of Energy (MoE), launching a relief work-plan for the hydro sector on Sunday, urged the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)to re-establish the Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission (ETFC) which was dissolved in the third week of March. The ministry has proposed the PMO to appoint new members of the commission within the next two weeks, according to Energy Secretary Balananda Sharma.
As per the work-plan, the commission should submit its final report within a month after its formation.
Power tariff in the country has not been adjusted for the last 10 years which has caused NEA huge financial losses. The authority had earlier proposed to hike the tariff by around 25 percent to Rs 9 per unit on an average. Existing tariff stands at Rs 7 per unit. NEA says hiking power tariff is a must if it has to increase the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate.
NEA officials say the authority incurring a loss Rs 2.5 per unit. While NEA’s buys power at around Rs 9 per unit, the selling price stands at around Rs 7. The proposed hike is necessary to neutralise NEA’s annual loss.
“It is an irony NEA doesn’t have the right to fix the price of its own product, while other public utilities like Nepal Telecom are free to decide on this front,” said a top NEA official. “Despite being well aware of the fact that NEA is bearing huge losses due to low power tariff, the government is reluctant to hike the electricity price.”
Source: Kantipur
