Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has distributed free electricity meters to backward and economically disadvantaged households.

The Authority has distributed free electricity meters to the poor households living in the areas under the Gaushala of Mahottari and Dhanushadham Distribution Center of Dhanush in Madhesh Province. The authority has been providing free meters and connecting electricity to the poor through its distribution centers across the country.

The underprivileged community will get a single phase electric meter, MCB box with 5-30 amp capacity box as per the authority's standards free of cost. Authority does not charge service fee for meter connection. One thousand nine hundred and thirty five rupees per meter, cost of MCB, service cable up to a maximum of 2 poles (about one hundred meters), installation of a new meter including service charges will cost Rs 12,000 to 15,000 per household.

Kulman Ghisingh, the managing director of the authority, distributed free meters to the poor families living in the municipalities under the Gaushala of Mahottari and Dhanushadham Distribution Center of Dhanusha. Free meters have been distributed to 68 and 162 poor households under Gaushala and Dhanushadham distribution centers respectively.

Managing Director Ghising said that the journey of the last mile of electrification is underway to provide electricity to the citizens who are currently living in such places by searching for places that do not have electricity.

"We have passed the stage of ending the load shedding of the places where electricity has been reached, and now we are nearing the end of the stage of supplying electricity to the places with 24-hour load shedding, now about 96 percent of the electrification has been completed,” said Ghising. "We are in the last mile journey to electrify the homes that are always under load shedding without electricity, and we are expanding and strengthening the infrastructure for transmission and distribution to make the electricity supply adequate, reliable and quality."

"Free meters have been provided to the poor so that no citizen should be deprived of electricity. Due to lack of money, the poor have been using electricity by hooking up. It will happen.”

Mentioning that Madhesh is going to be announced as a fully electrified province soon, he urged them to report immediately if there is a place without electricity and help in controlling the leakage. In Madhesh province, electricity leakage towards distribution is 13.27 percent by April.

"We have to increase the production and productivity through irrigation by supplying electricity to the fields, for this we have advanced the electrification of irrigation in collaboration with the local levels," said MD Ghising Munindra Thakur, head of Madhesh Province Regional Office, Janakpur, said that there is a lot of demand for electrification of irrigation in Terai-Madhesh region.

For any customer up to 100 KVA and up to 200 KVA, milk moisture center, cold storage, community drinking water, community irrigation has been arranged to supply electricity from the authority's transformer.

Out of 10 lakh 44 thousand customers of the authority in 8 districts of Madhesh province, the number of residential customers is 9 lakh 34 thousand. Out of this, the number of customers who pay 30 rupees monthly and get 20 units of electricity for free by keeping a single phase meter of 5 amperes at home is 2 lakh.