The Electricity Regulatory Commission has instructed the Nepal Electricity Authority not to cut electricity in industries. The Authority had sent a letter to the Commission on January 28 last year for approval to cut off the electricity due to the industrialist not paying the dues. The commission has again sent a letter to the authority instructing to take alternative action other than cutting the power line.

  It is mentioned in the letter of the commission that cutting the line of

industry will have a negative impact on the regular income earned from such customers, if the industry is closed, employment and production will also be affected and the country and society will be damaged .

It is said, 'in the case of consumers who are paying monthly electricity tariff regularly, other suitable and legal alternative action can be taken other than cutting the line.

The Commission says that action should be taken only after assessing in advance whether such action will be result-oriented, whether it will be implemented, whether it will be in line with the values, recognition and concerns of other concerned bodies, and whether it will be contrary to other prevailing legal provisions.

The commission had instructed the authority to take other coercive action apart from the action of cutting off the electricity of the industry to collect the dues of the dedicated feeder and trunk line on November 11. Later, on November 12, the authority sent a letter to Nepal Rastra Bank to freeze the accounts of 34 non-paying industries, the company registrar's office to freeze shares, and the Securities Board to freeze the permission to issue shares.

Similarly, if there are industrial energy promoters who have not paid their dues, the authority sent an information letter to the energy promoters stating that the arrears amount will be deducted monthly from the amount to be paid by the authority according to the electricity sale agreement. 

President of the Commission Ram Prasad Dhital says that no decision could be taken because the industrialists did not submit an application to the Commission for dispute resolution. "There is no commission to collect arrears, the collection of arrears can be carried out by agreement between the authority and the industrialist," he said.

The commission formed under the leadership of former judge Girishchandra Lal suggested that according to the standards at that time, the day and period of electricity supply to the customers should be determined and recalculated and levied. The authority claims that the outstanding fees from January 2072 to April 2075 are 6 billion 600 million rupees. According to the authority, since 60 days have already been cut, 25 percent additional fee has to be paid. In this way, the arrears reach 8 billion 25 crore rupees.

Ministry of Energy formed a committee under the coordination of Arvind Kumar Mishra on November 2 last to study the technical aspect and price determination of TOD meters cut by the authority. But since the establishment of the committee, the authority has been saying that it should be formed through the Electricity Regulatory Commission and it is illegal because the committee was formed by the ministry.

Energy Minister Deepak Khadka had said in the board meeting held on December 4 that the authority should pay the salaries of the committee, from office materials to vehicles. Kulman Ghising, executive director of the authority, wrote a 'Note of Dissent' on December 16 regarding the proposal to provide service facilities to the committee. Later, on December 22, Energy Minister Khadka asked him for a nine-point explanation.

Ghising has submitted an explanation on December 28. Already, Minister Khadka has asked Ghisingh to clarify 15 points by making a ministerial-level decision and 6 points by making a secretary-level decision. Khadka has also opened his office in the authority.