NEA increases load-shedding to 16 hrs a day

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has clearly proved that Nepal is not only rich in water resources but also in imposing load-shedding.

NEA has started to impose 16 hours of load-shedding a day starting from Sunday.

According to NEA, the scaling up in load shedding hours is due to receding water flow in rivers and decreasing water level at Kulekhani reservoir, which have severely limited the power generation capacity.

As per the latest schedule, there will be 16-hour load-shedding daily (eight hours of power cut twice a day) across the nation for six days in a week. There will be only 12 hours of load-shedding for one day in a week.

Industrial estates like Patan, Balaju, Bhaktapur, Dharan, Butawal and Pokhara can avail of the separate feeder facility. There will be regular power cuts for two days in a week. While, the rest will be on a rotational basis. The same rule applies to industries that are located outside the estates.

Currently, NEA is supplying less than 300 MW whereas demand has risen to around 800 MW.

Reports said that if the situation improves in two weeks, the Mid- Marsyangdi project will generate 35 MW in the next 15 days. The government is also repairing the transmission line in the Koshi to import 80-MW from India through Koshi-Kattaiya transmission line by mid February.

If the government succeeds in importing the 80-MW from India and the Mid Marsyangdi starts to generate electricity then load shedding hrs will be substantially decreased in the coming months.

Click here to see the load-shedding schedule : http://www.nea.org.np/loadshedding.xls