Kathmandu, June 13 After the government decided to ease the nationwide lockdown and allow industries and businesses in certain sectors to resume operations, the consumption of electricity has increased significantly. According to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s data, energy consumption stood at nearly 24,000 megawatt hours as of Friday. Prabal Adhikari, spokesperson for NEA, said that the peak load on Thursday evening had reached 1,200 megawatts, while on Friday afternoon the demand reached around 1,100 MW and further increased to 1,210 MW in the evening. Before the lockdown was imposed, the average power consumption was up to 22,000 MWh. Energy consumption reached around 24,000 MWh for the first time on Friday after 80 days of the lockdown. On Thursday evening, the Council of Ministers made public its decision to ease the lockdown modality and allowed certain shops, businesses and industries to operate, along with private vehicles. NEA had projected energy consumption to be between 25,000 MWh and 28,000 MWh this summer. “Friday’s data shows energy consumption is as per NEA’s projection and we are ready to manage this load,” said Adhikari, adding that demand for electricity tends to be higher in the summer as use of electronic appliances like fans and air-conditioners rises. “Power consumption is higher this year as compared to corresponding period in the previous year when it stood at 23,000 MWh to 25,000 MWh,” he informed. “We expect energy consumption to match our projection after more industries come into operation by Sunday,” added Adhikari. According to NEA, energy consumption reached 23,898 MWh on Friday. Of this total, NEA supplied 11,592 MWh of electricity to the national grid, while private developers supplied 10,904 MWh. Power import from India also increased to 1,342 MWh. A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 14, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.