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The rising demand and poor generation and supply of electricity are the main reasons behind this problem. Kantipuronline reports:

"The country will face a still worse power crisis for the next five years," said NEA chief Arjun Kumar Karki, answering queries from lawmakers at parliament's Finance Committee. "The only way out is power import from India. Unfortunately, both demand and price of power in the Indian market are rising too steeply to make this an easy option for us," Karki said.

According to Karki, by the time the 70 MW Middle Marsyangdi project comes into operation in 2008-end, power demand in the country will have shot up by more than 70 MW from the existing demand. There is no other sizeable project under construction in the country.

NEA has enforced up to eight hours of power cuts per household daily in the country, and this duration could be extended to 11 hours daily in mid-March.

Karki told the panel that crippling power cuts have become inevitable owing to a consumption shift. "The only power we are saving through cuts is the power used for lighting purposes. People use

The great Himalayas is the birth place of many rivers. Hence, hydro-electricity is the major source of power in Nepal but there are not too many hydro-electric plants to meet the growing demands of the country. It produces only half the electricity necessary to meet the demand.  

The shortage of power has seriously affected the industries and other business organizations. Many manufacturing companies have lessened their production and some even shut down. Hotels and tourist spots are also suffering from power shortage. Now, people are increasingly using diesel, the main fuel in Nepal which is also in short supply. Because of the diesel shortage, the transporters of Nepal are threatening to go on strike from Sunday if government fails to solve the problem with diesel supply.  

To solve the power crisis, Nepal’s parliamentary Finance Committee yesterday, ordered Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to submit a plan next week that would give guidelines to various short term and long term programs and activities to reduce the load shedding hours.

I am a Bangladeshi citizen and power shortage is also a major problem in our country. Like Nepal, Bangladesh also faces serious power shortage in the summer season which starts from March. I hope Nepal government take proper steps to reduce load shedding. The most important thing is stopping the un-necessary use of electricity such as heavy lighting at shopping malls, market and other places. At the same time, the government must stop people who are illegally consuming more electricity. Along with the government, citizens of Nepal have to be very careful about using electricity.

Kantipur online (1)

Kantipur online (2)

The Himalayan Times

China Post

New Kerala