KATHMANDU, JUNE 17

• Abolishes dedicated feeder, trunk line system
• Rate for charging electric vehicles fixed

Nepal Electricity Regulatory Commission has released a new power tariff rate, according to which electricity will be provided free of cost to domestic customers with five ampere meters who consume between one and 10 units per month. Electricity tariff for domestic customers consuming more than 10 units has been reduced by a maximum of 10 per cent. This will encourage use of induction cookers and other electrical appliances, states NERC. NERC has abolished the dedicated feeder and trunk line system tariffs. As a result, tariffs for this category of industrial, commercial and non-commercial customers will be reduced by about 65 per cent. The demand charge for community drinking water and irrigation customers has been completely removed and energy fee has been reduced to Rs 4.20 per unit from Rs 5.20 per unit. New electricity tariff Unit 5 amp 15 amp 30 amp 60 amp 0-20 0 4 5 6 21-30 3 4 5 6 31-50 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 51-150 8 8 8 8 151-250 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5 251-400 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5 400+ 12 12 12 12 Amount in Rs; Source: NERC For the first time, NERC has fixed tariff rate for charging electric vehicles at charging stations. Vehicle owners will have to pay Rs 11.20 per unit for peak hours (5:00 pm to 11:00 pm), Rs 4.45 per unit for off-peak hours (11:00 pm to 5:00 am) and Rs 10.10 per unit for normal hours (5:00 am to 5:00 pm) during the wet season. During the dry season, Rs 11.20 per unit will be levied for peak hours (5:00 pm to 11:00 pm) and Rs 10.10 per unit from 11:00 pm to 5:00 pm. According to revised tariff rates, effective from June 15, households consuming 50 units will have to pay Rs 335 in total. However, as the government had recently announced that NEA would give 25 per cent discount (excluding demand charge), such households will only have to pay a total of Rs 264 — Rs 214 after discount and Rs 50 as demand fee. Accordingly, the average tariff rate per unit will be Rs 5.28 per unit. A household consuming 100 units will have to pay Rs 835. But with a 25 per cent discount (excluding demand charge), such customers will have to pay only Rs 570 and the average per unit rate will be Rs 5.70 per unit. Consuming 150 units will raise the total tariff to Rs 1,340. Apart from the demand fee, the total tariff to be paid by such households will be only Rs 930 after 25 per cent discount. Accordingly, the rate per unit will stand at Rs 6.20 per unit. On February 10, in a bid to increase electricity consumption, NEA had submitted the revised electricity tariff to NERC for the latter’s approval. After the NEA board approved the new tariff rate, the power utility had forwarded the proposed electricity tariff rate to the commission on January 29. A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 18, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.