Electricity Worth Rs 13.58 Billion Imported From India
August 31, 2020 | Investopaper
In the last fiscal year, electricity from India has contributed 22 percent to eliminate load shedding in Nepal. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has met the demand by importing 1.72 billion units from India out of a total of 7.74 billion units in the fiscal year 076/77. The value of electricity imported from India is more than Rs 13.58 billion.
Of the 7,741 gigawatt-hours (7.74 billion units) of electricity consumed last year, 22.34 percent was imported from India. In the last fiscal year, 3.2 billion units of electricity was supplied from projects under NEA while 2.99 billion units of electricity was procured from private sector hydropower promoters. NEA has stated that the result of electricity import from India has decreased in the last fiscal year as compared to the previous fiscal year.
Electricity Import From India
While 5 billion units of electricity was consumed in FY 2071/72, it had imported 1.37 billion units from India. Rs 9.66 billion was spent for this. At that time, the projects under NEA generated 2.36 billion units of electricity. The project under private hydropower company generated 1.26 billion units of electricity.
NEA has a record of importing 1.77 billion units from India in the fiscal year 2072/73. Rs 13.12 billion was paid for this. When NEA imported 2.17 billion units of electricity from India in the fiscal year 2073/74 under the leadership of Kulman Ghising, it had disbursed Rs. 16.58 billion.
At that time, the total annual electricity consumption was 6.25 billion units. Of this, 2.3 billion units were supplied from projects under NEA and 1.77 billion units from the private sector. The share of electricity imported from India was 35 percent.
In FY 2074/75, the total electricity consumption was 7.5 billion units while 2.58 billion units were imported from India. NEA had spent Rs. 19.86 billion for this. Similarly, NEA had imported 2.81 billion units from India out of 7.55 billion units consumed in FY 2075/76 spending Rs 22.95 billion.
NEA has estimated that the import of electricity from India will be reduced to 5 to 10 percent in the current fiscal year. Nepal will be fully self-sufficient in electricity and net export will start from FY 2078/79.
Electricity Export To India
Looking into exports, Nepal Electricity Authority had exported 3.15 million units of electricity in the fiscal year 2072/73. In FY 2073/74, it fell to 2.6 million units. Likewise, 2.94 million units were exported in the subsequent fiscal year 074/75. NEA has been gradually increasing exports as the generation of electricity in the country has increased. It exported 34.7 million units of electricity in FY 2075/76 and 107 million units in FY 2076/77 to India.
