KATHMANDU, AUGUST 28
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has said that Nepal will be fully electrified in the next two years.
While announcing the work progress under her administration amid a programme held here today, she informed that preparations are underway for coordination with Alternate Energy Promotion Centre and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to fully electrify the nation within two years.
She said that 741 MW electricity was added to Nepal's national grid in the last fiscal year. With this, the total capacity of Nepal has reached 2269 MW.
Minister Bhusal shared that about 5,086 circuit kilometres of transmission lines with a capacity of more than 66 kV have been added in the country so far and that electricity leakage was minimised by almost two percentage points in the last financial year. The leakage has decreased from 17.18 per cent in fiscal year 2020-21 to 15.38 per cent in the fiscal 2021-22.
Minister Bhusal also said that the decision to provide free electricity to consumers who consume up to 20 units (including those under community organisations) has also been implemented.
She also added that tariffs up to two rupees per unit have been fixed by giving up to 75 per cent concession on electricity used in irrigation.
Also, decisions have been made to decrease tariffs on electricity during the monsoon season, she added.
Furthermore, Minister Bhusal shared that about 364 MW of electricity is being exported to India, which has assisted in decreasing the country's trade deficit. She also shared that discussion are currently underway to develop Sunkoshi-III in cooperation with Bangladesh.
The minister also informed that provisions have been made to provide 100 kV of energy to everyone and 200 kV of energy to community-run dairies and irrigation sectors.
On the occasion, she also said that tenants and those living in apartments and colonies can now become customers of the NEA by requesting individual electric metres from the authority.
Similarly, she said that the procurement process for the construction of the Bheri-Babai Diversion Multi-national Project, including the design and cost estimate, is also ongoing.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 29, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
