The government is preparing to ban the import of inverters citing aggravation in the ongoing power crisis due to overuse of inverters.The energy ministry has written to the supply and commerce ministries to stop the import of inverters Tuesday.
Talking to select journalists at his office Tuesday, energy minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said, we have began the process to ban import of inverters to prevent the power crisis from worsening.
People are charging batteries using inverters when there is power. This has forced us to increase the load shedding hours. So, we decided to ban the import of inverters for the welfare of those who can't afford to buy inverters.
The ministry has also instructed Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to stop all leakages. Currently there is a leakage of about 27 percent including technical and non-technical.
According to Shersingh Bhat, director of load dispatch centre at (NEA), 20 percent more power is consumed when it is used through inverters. There is no meaning of load shedding when people start using inverters, he said.
NEA has also mentioned load shedding could be reduced by up to two hours a day at the present rate of supply and demand if the use of inverters is curbed.
Meanwhile, NEA has started importing 30 MW more power from India this week. 15 MW power is imported through the Kataiya-Duhabi transmission line and another 15 MW is imported through Ramnagar-Gandak transmission line.
The additional electricity is imported at the commercial rate of Rs 10.72 per unit with India's Power Trading Corporation (PTC).
source: nepalnews.com
