With the onset of the dry season i.e. winter, there has been an increase in the demand for electricity in Nepal. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said that the demand for electricity in Nepal has also increased with the increase in the use of AC, heaters and other devices by the general public to ward off winter. According to the authority, the highest demand for electricity in Nepal, which was around 1,500 megawatts only about one week ago, has recently increased to more than 1,700 megawatts. That is the highest demand for electricity in Nepal increased by 200 megawatts in one week.

“In recent times, when common people have increased the use of appliances such as heaters in their homes, the impact of this has been seen in the peak demand of electricity,” said Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, spokesperson for the NEA, “However, more load has been added to the system after the winter advances.”

NEA is currently importing electricity from India to meet the increased electricity demand. Since Nepal was sending electricity to India a few weeks back, Nepal has again started importing electricity from India since Friday.

During the dry season, Nepal faces a reduction in electricity production, compelling the NEA to procure between 3,000 to 4,000 megawatt hours of electricity on a daily basis. Despite a total demand of 31,695 megawatt hours within Nepal’s electricity system, the combined capacity of 31,625 megawatt hours—inclusive of both imported and domestically generated electricity—falls slightly short. This results in an approximate deficit of 70 megawatt hours, highlighting an ongoing insufficiency within the system. Presently, Nepal imports around 4,000 megawatt hours of electricity while the remaining portion is sourced domestically.

Source: Rising