The Nepal Weekly 
January 4, 2022Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Kulman Ghising has explained that the recent rainfall and a sharp drop in the temperature is the main reasons behind the frequent power cuts and circuit overloading in a numberof areas in the Kathmandu Valley.
He was speaking at a press conference organised in Kathmandu on last Friday. Ghising, on the occasion, mentioned that the recent power cuts in some parts of the valley are not the results of problems in supply but are happened due to technical difficulties. Due to cold weather, the many residents used air-conditioners and heaters He said that the increase in load in the valley is due to the cold and use of air conditioners and heaters. That is also another reason of power cut. In the meantime rain fall disturbed maintenance efforts, he added.
“A fire in the feeder at Singha Durbar was the cause of power cuts in Anamnagar, Dilli Bazaar, and the surrounding areas. The problem took almost a day to be solved. Similarly, other areas in Kathmandu including Imadol, Baneshwar, and Maharajgunj also faced a power shortage due to fire in electric cables, which also took a long time to get repaired,” Ghising said.
Ghising added that as many as nine substations will be added in the Kathmandu Valley to meet its power supply demands as this will allow it to provide 2,000 MW of energy. “The substations will be constructed in Matathirtha, Chobhar, Teku, Balkumari, Thimi, Phutung, Mulpani, and Changunarayan and Patan. He also informed that damaged transformers are being repaired and upgraded.
In some places, NEA is facing local problems as the residents are obstructing to install new transformers and replace with new transformers to upgrade the distribution systems, Ghising stated saying residents did not allow the construction of substations due to the risk of short circuits. Ghising, in this context, urged the people not to be feared from incidents.
