Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has asked its blacklisted customers to pay their due bill within 15 days, or face a music.

“If they fail to clear their outstanding dues within a fortnight, they will be deprived of public services and even will be prosecuted,” the state power utility said, adding that it has blacklisted some 33,660 customers across the country for continuously refusing to pay electricity bills. “They owe a total of Rs 648.20 million to the NEA.”

Customers are charged fine after they pay bill a month late, but they are blacklisted, if customers fail to pay the bills within six months of suspension of service.

But after being suspended and blacklisted also some 33,660 customers failed to pay their dues. The NEA has finally warned to suspend any electricity line subscribed by blacklisted customers and their family members, if they fail to pay the due amount within a fortnight. “If they still do not follow the NEA diktat, their names and personal details of family members from three generations will be published in newspapers and broadcast on television and radio, according to the rule.

The default amount has increased up to Rs 3.75 billion – which is around 14 per cent of NEA’s annual revenue of around Rs 28 billion – till February.

Of the tota, almost Rs 1.70 billion is owed by various municipalities and village development committees for lighting the roads, apart from ministries and different government offices that have not settled electricity bills of around Rs 500 million.

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