Nepal Electricity Authority has disconnected the electricity of 18 more industries that consumed electricity from dedicated and trunk lines and did not pay premium tariff. The authority disconnected the electricity of these industries on Friday night. With this, the number of industries that the authority has disconnected electricity has reached 24. Earlier, electricity was disconnected from 6 industries last Tuesday.

The Authority has stated that the electricity of Himal Iron, Triveni Synthetic Yarn, Cosmos Cement, Panchakanya Steel, Shyam Plastic, Goenka Foods, SR Steel, Panchakanya Plastic, Bhalbari Automatic Factory, Jagdamba Synthetic, Everest Rolling, Gharana Foods, Vishal Cement, SR Foods, Siddhartha Pet Plast, Butwal Cement, Sona Minerals and Oils and Nigale Cement has been disconnected. Earlier, the Authority had disconnected the electricity lines of Jagdamba Steel, Reliance Spinning Mills, Shivam Cement, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cement Industries and Triveni Spinning Mills.

On 12 Asoj, the Authority had issued a notice to pay the dues by 17 Kartik, stating that all the activities related to the administrative review had been canceled. The notice mentioned that 28 months installment facility will be provided to industrialists who want to pay the dues. On 13 Asoj, the NEA had revised the previous notice and issued a new notice to pay the dues by 2 Kartik.

According to the NEA's notice, last Sunday, industrialists could pay the entire dues at once or take the facility of paying in 28 installments by taking the installment facility. The NEA also said that the NEA did not proceed with the process of disconnecting electricity because the next day, Monday, was Laxmi Puja. However, on Tuesday, the lines of 6 industries were disconnected at once.

According to NEA spokesperson Rajan Dhakal, only 13 industries had taken the installment facility and paid their dues. Therefore, Dhakal said that the power lines of those industries were not disconnected. He said that the lines were disconnected in all industries except for the 6 industries that took the interim order, 2 government industries and those that started paying their dues by taking the installment facility. 

According to the NEA, Hama Iron, Hulas Steel and Ashok Steel have also paid the first installment. Hulas has received approval to pay the outstanding premium fee of Rs 141.2 million for dedicated and trunkline usage from 2072 Magh to 2075 Baisakh in monthly installments of Rs 50.43 million each. Another Ashok Steel from Simara, which has an outstanding amount of Rs 175.8 million, has also paid the first installment. Ashok has paid Rs 6.3 million by taking the facility of 28 installments. Hama has paid Rs 2.09 million as the first installment out of the outstanding amount of Rs 58.5 million. Similarly, Sarvottam Cement and Shubhashree Agni Cement have also paid the first installment on Friday. Vinayak Spat, Shubhalakshmi Polymer, GB Textile 1 and GB Textile 2 have also started paying their dues by taking the facility of installments. The authority has not cut the lines in these industries.

The industrialists had registered a letter with Prime Minister Sushila Karki's secretariat last Friday and informed him about the dedicated and trunkline. The letter from the industrialists raises questions about the NEA board meeting cancelling the entire review process while the application submitted to the NEA's review committee is still under consideration.

'We had duly filed a review petition in protest against the authority's demand for a special tariff without proof, even though it did not provide electricity,' the letter from the industrialists states. 'We are forced to file this petition before the Honorable Sir after the NEA's board of directors decided to cancel the entire review process while the said petition was pending and sent a letter stating that the electricity line would be disconnected if the arrears were not paid within 2 Kartik.'

Shyam Kishore Yadav, who is also a member of the NEA's board of directors, said that 46 industries, including those that had started paying their arrears by taking the installment facility, had filed applications for administrative review. The NEA board of directors meeting held on 21 Baisakh 2082 had decided to issue a notice to the industrialists to appeal within a month. An industrialist alleges that the NEA has not taken any decision even after an additional month of notice was extended.

The commission formed under the leadership of former Justice Girish Chandra Lal had suggested that the tariff should be recalculated and collected by determining the day and period of electricity supply to the customer as per the standards of that time. The authority claims that the arrears of tariff from 2072 Magh to 2075 Baisakh are Rs 6.6 billion. The authority says that since 60 days have passed as per the rules, 25 percent additional tariff should also be paid. In this way, the arrears reach Rs 8.25 billion.

Industrialists have been requesting the authority for data on Time of Day (TOD) meters since the past. "If the industry is proven to have to pay the arrears, we express our commitment to pay the amount," the letter states. "These industries are only seeking protection from the law by changing the decision of the Tariff Determination Commission to impose a special fee for electricity flowing through trunk lines and dedicated line feeders, creating false arrears and claiming them as trunk-dedicated arrears."

The Lal Commission had stated that the amount would not have to be collected for the period from Shrawan 2072 to Pus 2072 when the electricity tariff had not been determined. The commission has suggested that the arrears should not be collected for the third period, i.e. from Jestha 2075 to Ashar 2077, as load shedding has ended.

The last time the NEA cut off electricity to 40 industries at once on 8 Kartik 2081. The Council of Ministers meeting held on 25 Kartik 2081 had decided to calculate the arrears on the basis of TOD meters and collect them within 15 days. Immediately on 27 Kartik, the NEA board of directors issued a notice to pay the dues by 12 Mangsir.

At that time, on 11 Mangsir, the Electricity Regulatory Commission had given a four-point directive to the NEA not to cut off electricity to the industry. Due to the dispute over the arrears of dedicated feeders and trunk lines, differences were growing between the then Executive Director of the NEA, Kulman Ghising, and the then Energy Minister Deepak Khadka. The then Energy Minister Khadka had repeatedly asked for clarification, and Ghising was removed by the Council of Ministers on 11 Chaitra 2081. The same Ghising is now the Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation.