Kathmandu, Sept. 21 -- Office bearers of the Electricity Regulatory Commission and Energy Ministry officials are at loggerheads over the hiring of staffers and authority of the regulatory body formed five months ago to govern generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.

A month ago the regulator had asked the ministry to send 55 skilled workers including hydro engineers, electrical engineers, economists, IT technicians among others but the ministry responded by deploying six clerical workers leading to the dispute.

"The regulator is laden with responsibilities of forming laws to guide the power sector, but with only 14 staffers the institution is shorthanded," said Dilli Singh, chairperson of the commission.

"We had asked ...