Butwal, November 4
Four industries have paid the first installment of outstanding premium charges to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) amid an ongoing dispute over dedicated and trunk power lines.
Panchakanya Plastic Industry, Panchakanya Steel Industries, Siddhartha Petplant, and Shyam Plastic, all based in the Bhairahawa area, made their first installment payments on Monday. Following the payment, NEA reconnected their previously disconnected power lines, said the authority’s Executive Director Manoj Silwal.
The industries paid the first installment of the premium charges owed for the use of dedicated and trunk lines between January 2016 and April 2018.
According to NEA, Panchakanya Plastic owed Rs 2.46 million, Panchakanya Steel Rs 5.21 million, Siddhartha Petplant Rs 18.3 million, and Shyam Plastic Rs 4.91 million. The total dues have been divided into 28 installments, with the industries now having cleared the first one.
Due to unavoidable circumstances, the Panchakanya Group paid Rs 280,000 for one installment, after which NEA restored power to two of its industries, said the group’s General Manager, Devendra Sahu.
Earlier the same day, Panchakanya Steel and Panchakanya Plastics had filed complaints with the Electricity Regulatory Commission.
“We paid one installment under compulsion to protect the jobs of hundreds of workers and maintain operations of national pride projects and essential consumer services. But this does not mean we have accepted the claim that we used trunk lines,” said Sahu.
He further argued that the dispute involving industries in eastern Nepal and those within the Panchakanya corridor are not the same, adding that their industries neither requested nor used trunk lines.
Sahu also claimed that the NEA has failed to provide proof of demand or usage, including the Time-of-Day (TOD) meter readings.
