Kathmandu, Jan 30 : The task force formed on July 20 to submit a report along with a plan of action suggesting as to what kinds of measures the government should take to regulate electricity tariff without causing burden to the general public presented its report to Prime Minister and Minister for Water Resources Girija Prasad Koirala today.

In the report, the task force has recommended strict and speedy measures to plug electricity leakage so as to reduce the leakage by two per cent during the current fiscal year. If this happened, the country will earn an additional Rs. 180 million or so every year, the report said.

The task force has recommended that the branches of Nepal Electricity Authority which are suffering a leakage of more than 30 per cent take necessary measures to bring down the volume of leakage to 25 per cent during the current fiscal year. It has also stressed the need for the electricity authority to develop and implement an effective programme from reducing the existing volume of electricity leakage in Bhaktapur and Patan to 25 per cent.

As it is quite certain that the country will have surplus energy during the summer of 2059 B.S. it is essential to increase the utilisation of electricity so as to facilitate the consumption of surplus power in Nepal and India. In the case of electricity which might not be consumed despite all these measures, the electricity tariff structure of the electricity authority needs to be changed in such a manner as to promote the consumption of such surplus energy, it is stated.

The new electricity tariff structure should have a provision for giving electricity at special concession rate to the existing and new industries which are in a position to consume surplus power, the report said.

It has also stressed the need to give priority to the development of necessary infrastructures including transmission lines and sub stations so as to increase power exports to India, and request India to improve the transmission lines on its side for that purpose.

The task force has also recommended a reduction in the electricity authority’s internal power consumption from the existing 1.5 per cent to 1 per cent through the implementation of necessary policy and programmes. If this happened annual income of the authority will increase by about Rs. 50 million a year.

In view of the occasional shortage of electricity meters, which prevents the authority from increasing the number of its clients, the task force has recommended that necessary arrangements be made to make meters easily available and install meters within two weeks after the date of demand for the same.

It has also stressed the need for the government to cooperate with the electricity authority in realising the accumulated over due electricity tariff from the government sector, the municipalities and VDCs.

The electricity should introduce golden hand shake scheme to reduce the number of its employees and set a target to increase the employee-client ration from the existing 1:78 to 1:200 within five years.

Since the existing rural electrification activity has not been financially attractive the task force has recommended that the government set up a separate “rural electrification fund” and operate it through a separate body.

The seven-member task force was headed by executive secretary at the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat Vidyanath Nepal.