Mugu district connects with the national grid

Mugu, a Karnali Province district, finally has a national grid connection after the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) extended the transmission line to Gamgadhi, its district headquarter.

On Sunday, the NEA successfully installed an 85 km line connecting the Gamgadh by tapping the Kalikot-Jumla 33 kV transmission line at Nagma.

Based on the national census 2021, there are 12,430 households in Mugu out of which a majority of households — 8,137 households — don’t have access to electricity. 

Only 4,293 households have access to electricity while a majority of them (7,817 households) depend on solar as a primary source of lighting. Before the transmission line, Mugu’s villages depended on mini and micro hydro plants for electricity.

With the installation, 76 of the total 77 districts are now linked with the national grid. Humla, another district from Karnali Province, remains the only district to have connectivity with the national grid.

At the national level, electricity has become the primary source of lighting for the majority of households, with 92.2% of households using it as their main source — marking a significant increase from the 67.3% as reported in 2011.

However, 7.8% of households in Nepal still do not have access to electricity as a primary source of lighting.