May 16, Kathmandu- Hitendra Dev Shakya, the Managing Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), has guaranteed that the nation will not revert to load shedding, even in light of a significant power outage on Thursday evening that impacted extensive areas of the country.

During a press conference aimed at clarifying the incident, Shakya ascribed the disruption to technical issues caused by weather conditions and refuted claims regarding the reoccurrence of regular power outages.

On Thursday evening at 6:38 PM, electricity supply was disrupted across much of the country.

According to NEA, both circuits of the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 kV double circuit transmission line were affected simultaneously due to a storm in the Dhalkebar area.

“Electricity demand is highest in the evening, but due to low domestic production and line tripping, the system becomes unstable,” NEA explained.

Shakya refuted rumors circulating on social media about the return of load shedding. “The claims that load shedding has returned, and we are going back to the days of inverters and candles, are false,” he said. “A tree branch falling on the line caused the issue, which was resolved within about two hours.”

Shakya said that he personally went to the Electricity System Operation Department in Syuchatar to monitor the situation after the outage occurred.

He informed that circuit-2 of the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur line resumed operation at 8:08 PM, restoring a smooth power supply.

However, he acknowledged that not all areas received electricity immediately, as trees had fallen on 132 kV, 33 kV, and 11 kV lines in the Dhalkebar West area, damaging poles and conductors.

To prevent similar problems in the future, Shakya said that the NEA will develop immediate, medium-term, and long-term strategies.