Hotel Association Pokhara lays concern over frequent power outages

POKHARA, August 2: Keeping in view the problem of Gandaki residents who are suffering from frequent power outages in a short period of time, officials of Hotel Association Pokhara Nepal have drawn the attention of the Nepal Electricity Authority Regional Office Gandaki on Wednesday.

Under the leadership of Hotel Association Pokhara Nepal President Laxman Subedi, a team of the association reached the authority and submitted a letter to the regional head Jagdish Chandra Joshi informing about the problems faced by the electricity consumers. Laxman Subedi, the president of the association expressed his grief that the hotel sector and the entire consumers are the most affected when electricity is cut off at any time of the day or night.

Stating that it is difficult to provide necessary services to guests from abroad when there is a power outage, Subedi shared that the office of the association has been getting frequent calls from members more than the authority. 

On that occasion, Rajendra Dhakal, the general secretary of the association said that it was the negligence and irresponsibility of the authority that the consumers could not get electricity easily even after paying money. He said that when electricity is cut off at home, consumers suspect that gangs related to inverters or solar equipment are involved in it, adding that guests who take the elevator of the hotel would panic and complain when they get stuck due to power outages.

Replying to the inquiries and complaints of the officials of the association, Jagdish Chandra Joshi, the head of the regional office of the authority, said that the current problem has arisen because more electricity is produced than consumed.

He informed that when production is high compared to consumption, electricity is interrupted due to tripping. The internal sensor of the electric circuit overheats and the breaker blocks the electricity to prevent further heating is called tripping.

"We urge you to increase the electricity consumption as much as possible which will resolve the problem itself", Joshi said. Stating that 11 districts of the province are under the provincial office, he informed that currently 700 MW of electricity is being produced in Gandaki province, but the consumption is only around 80 MW adding that the consumption in Pokhara alone is around 40 MW.

Stating that the problem of power tripping is witnessed across the country, he informed that investigation committees have been formed at the central and provincial levels to resolve this issue. He said that coordination is also being done with various grids of the authority to solve the problem.