Nepal Electricity Authority is going to buy 700,000 electric meters. There is a shortage of meters across the country due to late contracts. NEA is about to sign a contract with the Indian company so that the supply will start within a month and a half.
Manoj Silwal, head of NEA's distribution and customer service directorate, said that a contract agreement for meter supply is about to be signed with Genus Power Infrastructure India Energy of India.
"We have already called for a contract and we have requested them to start production," he said. A contract agreement is being signed with the company for about 6.4 million US dollars. This will cost about 9 dollars per meter.
There is a lack of electricity meters to connect the distribution centers of NEA to the customers which is causing wastage of electricity. On one hand, it is wasted without consuming electricity and on the other hand, NEA is not able to supply electricity as per the demand of the customers.
Although the equipment purchased by Kulman Ghising during his previous tenure is on demand even now, the shortage is at an extreme level. About 300,000 new electricity customers are added every year. According to this, on an average, more than 25,000 meters are connected in a month. NEA is also using old meters as there is a shortage.
According to Silwal, 80,000 meters have been brought back into use after the smart meters were installed in the houses at Maharajgunj and Ratna Park distribution centers in Kathmandu.
There is more shortage of transformers than meters as there is a demand for hundreds of transformers to be connected to power distribution lines across the country. However, NEA has not been able to provide transformers to the distribution centers as per the demand.
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