Nepal Electricity Authority decides to reconnect power lines for industries

KATHMANDU: The meeting of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Executive Committee has taken a decision to reconnect power lines for industries. Citing outstanding previous dues, NEA had intermittently disconnected power supply to 24 major industries, repeating the process every 22 days.

The decision to disconnect electricity from 61 industries with a total outstanding amount of NPR 22.24 billion had been previously made by NEA.

Following the directive of the Cabinet, the NEA Executive Committee, in a meeting held on Friday morning, decided to reconnect dedicated feeders and trunk lines for electricity consumers who have cleared their outstanding bills up to the date.

The meeting, chaired by Minister for Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, made this decision.

Nepal Electricity Authority clarified that the decision to cut off power for 22 days was due to the outstanding dues in the industries.

The decision to immediately reconnect electricity was made just four days after the Cabinet decision for an investigation commission, as per the Electricity Tariff Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2026, headed by former Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal, with representatives from the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, and Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies.