Kathmandu, June 4:

The meeting of the Nepal-India Power Exchange Committees (NIPECS), which will work out the block of power that can be exchanged between Nepal and India, has been scheduled through Thursday and Friday in the capital.

The meet has been preponed by a week as the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) had initially suggested the talks be held in mid-June. While NEA Managing Director Arjun Karki will lead the Nepali delegation, V Ramakrishna, a member of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) of India, is tipped to head the Indian delegation.

However, who will actually lead the Indian delegation will be confirmed only tomorrow.

The committees will report to the Water Resource Secretaries “who will take up the matter further.”

“It is official now. The much awaited talks will be held on Thursday and Friday in Kathmandu,” NEA spokesperson Danda Pani Basyal told The Himalayan Times.

The idea of instituting the Power Exchange Committees (PECS) and the commitment to set up separate power exchange companies was evolved during the India visit of former

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

This is the first time in four years that the delegation will be meeting.

The importance of the upcoming meeting lies in the fact that it will “fix the block of power NEA will be getting from India through lean and peak seasons. The quota may be fixed depending on power availability.”