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Collecting tariff from govt offices more difficult: NEA BY OUR CORRESPONDENT Biratnagar, Dec 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is finding it more difficult to collect tariff from the government offices than from the common people. The Authority’s Biratnagar office says the unaccounted amount of the government offices and Corporations has reached to more than Rs. 200 million. Officials at the Authority say in spite of repeatedly asked for the payment the offices have failed to heed the request. "We might even have to put them into bad debt," they say. According to the Authority, the unsettled account of the Biratnagar sub-metropolitan alone stands at Rs. 32.4 million. Similarly, the unaccounted tariff of the Biratnagar Jute Mills has reached Rs. 30 million. The Authority had cut the lines three times in the past still the Mills has failed to pay the due. Similarly, no decision has been made on the tariff amounting to Rs. 68.6 million on electricity exported to India. The government has, however, said that the tariff of Rs. 16.3 million would be adjusted to the government account. Chief of NEA’s Biratnagar office Tikaram Limbu concedes that despite repeated efforts, the Authority has failed to collect its dues from the government owned offices. He says, "The main reason behind the swelling up of the unsettled account is the practice of delaying the payment by the government offices." There are about 31,000 customers under the Biratnagar branch office of NEA, but not even 5 per cent of them pay regularly. The NEA regularly cut off the lines, still it has not deferred the customers from paying the tariff regularly and in time. However, Limbu says the leakage percentage in the area stand at only 15 per cent compared to the country’s average of 24 per cent. Recently the office fined 60 persons who had tried to hook cables on the main line to steal power. Other Stories |
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