Nepal earns ₹ 8.15 billion from electricity export to India in 5 months of current fiscal year

Kathmandu, Dec 22 (PTI) The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has exported electricity worth Nepalese rupees 13 billion (INR 8.15 billion approximately) during the first five months of the current fiscal year.

According to NEA officials, about 1.76 billion units of electricity worth Nepalese Rs 13.04 billion have been exported to India from mid-July to mid-December of the current fiscal year 2024-25.

Nepal has been exporting surplus electricity to India during the rainy season for the last few years, NEA spokesperson Chandan Ghosh said.

The average rate of electricity exported to India in the five months is Nepalese Rs 7.39 (INR 4.63 approximately) per unit.

The authority is selling the surplus electricity at competitive rates in the day-ahead and real-time markets of the Indian Energy Exchange and to the states of Haryana and Bihar as per the bilateral medium-term power sales agreement.

As a result, the authority has earned INR 8.15 billion by selling electricity during the review period as the trading was done in Indian currency.

However, since the dry season has come with the arrival of winter, Nepal has now stopped exporting and started importing electricity from India, Ghosh said.

Currently Nepal imports 300 MW of electricity from India to meet its domestic demand. The majority of power houses in Nepal are of the run-of-river type, which face seasonal fluctuation.

Nepal was planning to export more electricity to India this year, but it could not do so because of the damage to the 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project as a result of floods and landslides in September, according to NEA officials.

"As the water flow in the rivers starts increasing, electricity exports will resume. From this year, Nepal has started to export 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh via the Indian transmission line," he said.

The NEA has so far received approval from India to sell 941 MW of electricity generated from 28 projects in the Indian market under the competitive market and medium-term power sales agreements. PTI