Urja Khabar
Kathmandu: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has said its profits declined by Rs 1.04 billion in the fiscal year 2022/23 compared to that of the previous fiscal year.
According to the NEA’s financial report, it earned profits of Rs 12.33 billion in the last fiscal year, down from Rs 13.37 billion in the previous fiscal year. Speaking at a press meet on Thursday, the NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising, said the fall in profits was due to a notable decline in electricity production during the dry season of the last fiscal year.
According to him, the authority’s cost was increased as it was compelled to import more electricity due to decline in domestic electricity production.
Despite the private sector’s blame that around 500 MW of electricity has been wasted due to apathy of the NEA, the authority does not make the situation transparent just for its face save. According to the NEA, the installed capacity of electricity has reached 2,822 MW in the country. As of now, the peak domestic demand has been registered at a maximum of 1,900 MW.
India has permitted Nepal to sell only up to 452 MW of electricity at the Indian market. The NEA has been requesting India's approval to export 1,073 MW of electricity produced by 19 hydropower projects. Ghising said the Indian authorities have not made any decision in this regard until now.
Ghising said that the NEA is improving the distribution system through installation of necessary transmission lines and related infrastructure to sustain the demand of 11 cities until 2050. He claimed that around 95 percent of the country’s households have now received electrification.
Meanwhile, the NEA has stepped up the process of issuing the primary shares for the general public. Ghising said they have forwarded the procedure to float primary shares.
According to him, the authority has its actual assets evaluated, while it has received a credit rating of AA+ from ICRA Nepal. “We have initiated floating the shares after we finalized the third financial restructuring of the organization,” he said.
