PM gives nod to electricity tariff hike

KATHMANDU, Dec 22: 

Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai agreed in principle to raise the electricity tariff, during a meeting with the Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission (ETFC) at his office on Wednesday.

ETFC Chairman Ganesh Prasad Subba said PM Bhattarai agreed that the electricity tariff should be raised if that is mandatory for making the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) self-sustaining and more effective. Subba disclosed that NEA has proposed a tariff raise of approximately 30 percent just to offset the projected loss of Rs 7 billion in the current fiscal year. 

“The prime minister agreed that the tariff should be raised if that is necessary for making NEA self-sustaining, but he also said that NEA itself should become effective and not merely depend on tariff hikes,” Subba said

Subba said the ETFC is currently doing the homework to raise tariff by 20 percent on average and disclosed that the new tariff would come into effect from January 15. NEA has proposed four tariff segments for household consumers--users of up to 20 units, between 20 to 150 units, 150-250 units, and above 250 units--splitting the prevailing second segment of 20-250 units into two.

“We are still working on the exact rate for each segment and the number of segments has also not been fixed. But the hike will be minimal in the low-consuming segment and higher in the high-consumption segments, and we are also looking to proportionally increase the tariff for commercial users,” Subba elaborated.

NEA has not raised its tariff for around a decade.

16 apply for executive director

Meanwhile, 16 persons including Officiating Managing Director of NEA Rameshwar Yadav, General Manager Mahendra Shrestha, former managing director Uttar Kumar Shrestha and former managing director of Nepal Oil Corporation Digambar Jha have applied for the vacant post of executive director at NEA.

Dr Krishna Prasad Dulal, Damodar Bhakta Shrestha, Anil Kumar Jha, Mukesh Kafle, Ananda Nepal, Laxmi Bhakta Shilpakar, Ambikesh Kumar Jha, Hari Ram Parajuli and Bhupendra Basent have also applied for the post, which has remained vacant since the resignation in mid-November of Deependra Nath Sharma, NEA´s first executive director selected through open competition.

A three-man selection committee headed by Bishwaraj Regmi was formed on Wednesday to fill the vacancy.

Source: Republica