Nepal hit by 12-hour power cuts

Nepal’s state-owned utility is supplying power just 12 hours a day and says the cuts may get worse because of an electricity shortage.

The Nepal Electricity Authority imposed the 12-hour cuts yesterday.

Chiranjivi Sharma, director of the system control department, said the cuts could exceed 14 hours daily in the next month.

Little rainfall and low rivers have reduced the water in the reservoirs that feed the utility’s hydroelectric plants.

Nepal produces only about half its electricity needs, and imported power from neighbouring India is not enough to make up the shortfall.

Construction of new power plants was hampered by a decade-long communist insurgency that ended in 2006.