Electricity is essential for daily tasks and large-scale operations. Interruptions in supply can cause serious disruptions to vital services and other activities. According to the 2023 Distribution Power Reliability and Transmission System Performance Report, high-tension fuse failures led to the most unplanned outages last year, causing nearly 1,200 power disruptions nationwide. Line or conductor faults were the next most common cause, resulting in over 840 outages. There were more than 9,100 power outages in the country last year.
The report identifies four categories for cause of power outages: planned outages, unplanned outages, momentary disruptions, and external factors.
The Electricity Regulatory Authority analysed power outages in distribution and transmission during 2023, with the primary goal of improving power reliability.
Phuntsho Namgyal, Chairman of the Electricity Regulatory Authority said “increasing reliability is a big task, but unless we set a target, we will never achieve it. Reliability will be enhanced through innovation and regulatory mechanisms. For instance, automated systems can accurately identify problems.”
The report shows that, on average, each customer experienced about 19 power interruptions in a year.
Samdrup Jongkhar experienced the highest frequency of power interruptions, with over 500 instances, while Bumthang had the fewest outages, at just over 70.
Similarly, the average power interruption lasted more than 18 hours per customer each year.
Dagana had the longest power interruptions, lasting nearly 780 hours, while Trashi Yangtse had the shortest, at around 70 hours.
The Electricity Regulatory Authority found that issues like delayed maintenance and poor earthing quality were the main causes. They are now working to fix these problems.
Phuntsho Namgyal said “through regulatory mechanisms, such as setting acceptable levels for outage frequency and duration, we establish thresholds—what is tolerable and what is not. We then issue notifications to companies, warning them that exceeding these limits could result in penalties, and so on.”
To reduce power outages, the Bhutan Power Corporation will start doing regular maintenance and inspections using drones and high-definition cameras, and they will improve earthing and grounding systems.
As of 2023, the Bhutan Power Corporation has installed over 5,500 transformers, serving nearly 250,000 customers nationwide.
Deki Lhazom & Singye Dema
Edited by Sherub Dorji
