DANG: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) distribution centers Tulsipur and Ghorahi are yet to recover over Rs 88 million arrears in electricity bills in the last fiscal year of 2018/19.

NEA Tulsipur branch has around Rs 45 million arrears while Ghorahi has over Rs 43 million arrears.

Chief of NEA Tulsipur branch Dipak Chaudhary said those who have not cleared electricity arrears include government offices and people. Despite calls, they are yet to clear the arrears, he added.

Fifty-nine electricity lines in Tulsipur were disconnected last year for failure to pay electricity bills on time, he said. Of them, 48 customers were blacklisted for failure to clear the arrears.

Likewise, Rs 178,000 arrears have been recovered from customers so far in this fiscal year of 2019\20, he said.
There are 38,991 electricity customers in Tulsipur and around 35,000 in Ghorai. Likewise, Lamahi municipality has 25,000 customers.

The NEA Tulsipur branch has also launched a campaign against electricity leakage. Forty-seven customers were booked for stealing power in the FY of 2018\19 and approximately Rs 500,000 was collected in fine.

Around 31 percent of electricity leakage was recorded in the FY of 2017/18. The figure was reduced to 19.30 percent in the FY of 2018/19.