NEA staff involved in meter tampering

A team of Nepal Electricity Authority officials gave a shock to country’s electricity utility after it revealed that meters were being tampered in cahoots with its own technicians to cheat NEA which is already in the red.

The NEA team had inspected distribution centres in Gorkha, Kawasoti, Bharatpur, Tandi, Simara and Birgunj only to find that 20 electricity meters, out of 45 scrutinised, were faulty and showing less reading than the actual consumption.

“So perfectly were the software installed that the meters would read the electricity consumption by less than 30 per cent,” said Dipendra Nath Sharma, Managing Director, NEA. “Though the electricity consumption was high, the machines were not reading correctly, making the consumers pay less than the actual use.” According to Sharma, such faulty meters must have been installed by field staff. “The engineers are at fault,” said Sharma.

There are about 4,000 such meters installed across the country.

“The very first inspection in these areas have indicated that there are irregularities. We believe problems are everywhere, and we will launch a special programme to fix the problem,” said Energy Secretary Balananda Paudel.

NEA has estimated that around 1.51 units of electricity were used for which it never received payment. “It would have brought around Rs 7 crores to NEA. We have directed the concerned offices to prepare bills and send them to those who have stolen power by creating systematic errors in the meters,” added Sharma.

The current transformers of four meters were installed in such a way that actual billing was reduced by about 40 per cent; four meters were found without potential transmitters, reducing readings by about 30 per cent; seven meters were found without multiplier in the software; and four meters of industries that were inspected were stealing the electricity.

“Those involved in such activities would be brought to book after a thorough investigation,” said Sharma, who did not deny the involvement of engineers/technicians from his own office.

Power thieves

The industries that were involved in stealing electricity are Triveni Mills, KP Cement, Nirapus Plastic Industry, Safari Adventure Lodge, Simran Crusher Industry, Koshi Gas Industry, Ghimire Furniture and Popular Rice Mill.