Kathmandu. Electricity leakage has been continuously decreasing in Madhes Province in the last few years. According to the Madhes Province Office of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), electricity leakage has been decreasing due to the campaign to control power leakage, hooking control, improvement in customer billing, meter change and improvement in electricity reading.

According to the office, electricity leakage in the first two months of the current fiscal has declined by 1.61 per cent compared to the same period of the last fiscal year.

The power leakage in the last fiscal year was 22.56 percent while it has come down to 20.95 percent in the same period of the current fiscal year.

According to the office, there was 20.09 percent electricity leakage in July and 21.76 percent in August of the current fiscal year. Last year, there was 25.67 percent leakage in July and 23.52 percent in August.

The lowest 2.94% leakage is recorded at Simara Distribution Centre of Bara while the biggest leakage is recorded at Maulapur distribution centre of Rautahat at 47.77%, said chief engineer Shambhu Kusiyat at Madhes State Office Janakpurdham.

According to Chief Kusiyat, the problem of power leakage is more in Maulapur and Gaur areas of Rautahat and Malangwa of Sarlahi among other areas. He said that the power leakage is comparatively less in Simara distribution center of Bara due to the large number of industrial customers.

In the first two months of the current fiscal year, the power of 8,782 consumers who did not pay electricity bills has been disconnected. Out of the disconnected powers, 8,234 consumers have reconnected their electricity bills. According to the NEA, dues worth Rs 20.97 crore have been recovered from them.

Chief Kusiyat said that the campaign to cut the line has been launched as the tendency of people consuming electricity with meters but not paying the tariff for a long time has increased. In the last fiscal year, Rs 1.47 billion was recovered from 42,664 customers who were disconnected from their powers.

According to the NEA, 59 percent of the industrial and 31 percent of the households in Madhes Province have electricity supply. Chief Kusiyat said that 99.99 percent of the households in Madhes Province have electricity service and continuous electricity connection is being done in the remaining areas. About 10 percent of the irrigation projects in Madhes Province have been electrified.