KATHMANDU: In the first three months of the current financial year, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has earned a profit of about Rs 8.5 billion.
According to the financial statement (provisional) for mid-July to mid-October of the current fiscal year, the NEA earned Rs 32.98 billion from the sale of electricity, interest and other income during this period. In the first three months of the fiscal year, the NEA earned a profit of Rs. 8.55 billion (excluding tax) by spending Rs 24.48 billion.
According to the details of the major activities carried out in the three months of the current year, published in accordance with the provisions of the Right to Information Act, the authority purchased electricity worth Rs 14.15 billion from the private sector during this period.
A net income of Rs 22.2 billion was generated by selling the electricity produced by the power plants owned by the NEA and those of the private sector.
Kulman Ghising, the managing director of the NEA, said that it has succeeded in making a significant profit in the first three months of the current fiscal year due to leakage control, increase in income due to increase in electricity export to India, and cost control.
Ghising mentioned that the money received from the profit was spent on expanding and strengthening the transmission and distribution infrastructure to increase domestic electricity consumption and provide reliable and quality electricity to the consumers.
Ghising said, “In the coming days, to increase the consumption of electricity, to supply affordable and quality electricity to the consumers, an investment of Rs 300 billion to 400 billion will have to be made within the next four to five years. The Government of Nepal is not able to get enough funds due to limited resources, so every year’s profit will be used for production, transmission and distribution. We are spending on infrastructure expansion and strengthening”.