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Kathmandu, January 5
The country is grappling with the shortage of transformers, with transformers exploding at an increasing rate due to erratic electricity supply.
In the meantime, around 551 transformers meant for Nepal have been lying idle close to the Nepal border in India, thanks to disruption in supplies resulting from the Indian blockade and the Madhesh strife.
There’s an acute shortage of transformers having capacity of more than 100 KVA, transformers that are in demand in cities. Nepal Electricity Authority is using old transformers after repairing them as it has run out of new high-capacity transformers, almost.
Mukesh Raj Kafle, NEA managing director, told Onlinekhabar they still have 15, 25 and 50 KVA transformers in stock. “There’s no problem with low-capacity transformers. But we do not have plenty of high-capacity transformers in stock,” Kafle said, claiming, though, that there’s no acute shortage, so no one will have to live in the dark for want of transformers.
Meanwhile in Raxaul, 205 transformers meant for Nepal have already arrived. While 346 transformers have arrived in Kolkata, Kafle informed.
With the Birgunj customs shut, NEA has not been able to bring in these 205 transformers to Nepal.
Our problem will be gone if we get the (205) transformers via Birgunj, Kafle said. They all are high-capacity transformers, Kafle said, adding: We are doing homework to bring these transformers through another route.
NEA claims this will not emerge as a big problem as the Energy Ministry is serious about addressing it. The state-run power monopoly says it’s repairing 5-6 transformers daily and grappling with the problem thus.
The rate of transformer breakdown has also gone down these days, according to the NEA. Kafle attributes this to improvement in the NEA’s distribution system.
