Rs 100 a month for 24-hr power supply

SIKLES (KASKI), April 23: While the rest of the country faces 14 hours of daily power cuts, residents of Parche VDC, Kaski enjoy 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply. And that too for just Rs 100 a month!

As the price of electricity here is set at Rs 1 per watt, the total electricity bill of most residents does not exceed Rs 100. The entire VDC is electrified round the clock, thanks to the 100 kilowatt micro hydro project built on the local Gajakhola.



"Many people don´t understand what load-shedding means as there is no supply disruption here," said Chandra Gurung, who played a vital role in building the micro hydro project with the assistance of British donors. "Villagers have been able to light their houses at a very low price and run rice mills and furniture factories," he added.

The micro hydro that was built 17 years ago with the investment of Rs 9 million and donation of labor from the locals currently electrifies 565 households. It started producing electricity from March 15, 1995, according to Kum Bahadur Gurung, manager of Sikles Electricity Management Sum-committee.

The consumer households do not have meter boxes installed in them. Monthly bill is based on appliances uses by a household. For instance, a house that uses lighting bulb of 100 watt capacity pays Rs 100 a month. "We have installed a glass fuse in every house. If anyone attempts to light a bulb of higher capacity, supply gets automatically severed," Gurung said.

The micro hydro raises Rs 100,000 in revenue every month. Of this, Rs 60,000 is spent on maintenance and salary of four project staffers. The project earns a net profit of Rs 40,000 a month.

Until two years ago, the price per watt was just 50 paisa. The price was raised to Rs 1 per watt after the cost of running the project exceeded the revenue.

Four rice mills and a furniture factory are run using the electricity generated by the project. The mills and factory operate between 8am to 3pm when electricity demand at consumer households is low.

According to Gurung, the project will soon have to be upgraded to 200 kilowatts to meet the increasing demand. "We need an investment of twenty million rupees for upgrading the project," Gurung said.