Unwillingness of NEA

The unbundling of NEA has started. But it is now facing a problem from its employees. The formation of National Transmission Grid Company (NTGC) which is planned to sort out the entire problem in transmission line is not getting support.

NEA has shown unwillingness to join the NTGC’s board. The demands of NEA are:-

1) Evaluate assets of all transmission line projects.

2) Remove the clause “Employees of NTGC by law cannot form any kind of trade union”

My understanding

Although the unbundling of NEA will separate Generation, Transmission and Distribution, the staffs will be the same (of course they may hire additional staffs, if necessary). When there is a strict provision regarding the formation of trade unions, then it is obvious that these employees will resist such changes.

At the same time, we should not forget that the whole idea for the separation is due to the fact that NEA was not able to perform its duty in the past. Such situation was largely due to the overload of work and NEA’s militant trade union. No can deny this fact.

There will be no significant differences in the performance if we allow forming trade unions. The best solution to address this problem is by bringing incentive plans for the employees.

Unbundling

I am not clear how unbundling works. Unbundling is also new for me. As far as I remember, USAID will be assisting for unbundling of NEA. I am pretty sure that they have the expertise.  

More than that

I have explained the reason for unbundling of NEA last year Unbundling of NEA is necessary . However, I forgot to mention an important part. There is a bottleneck we have to understand when it comes to the expansion/development of transmission lines.

Lack of coordination between Department of Electricity Development (DOED) and NEA is also a main hurdle.

DOED is responsible for issuing hydropower license and it does so in “first come first basis” As such, hydropower developers are awarded license wherever they apply. Also, they are demanding NEA to construct the transmission lines. This is where problem lies.

Without proper study regarding the current and future demand of the area, how can anybody construct the transmission lines? Is it fair to construct the transmission line just because few developers have hydro license in that area? Focusing to please the hydro developers may also result in low network utilization.

There should be a proper study by encompassing the demographic, the current demand and future demand (current demand, long-term demand and medium term demand). I guess, this is the right way to move forward. We should not always focus on immediate need.

Also please explain

I have been reading the news about the inclusion of private sector in the transmission lines. How does this work? I am completely unaware of this. I guess the revenue source will be the wheeling charges. But how is it charged? Will it be on the basis of capacity booked or the length of the transmission lines that one has used for the evacuation? Any expert reading this blog is requested to share his/her ideas.