The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) gets respite to manage electricity supply with the Indian government’s consent to increase electricity supply to Nepal up to 600 MW for 15 hours.

According to the NEA, the country has been importing electricity from India for up to 12 hours as of now. The NEA Spokesperson Raja Bhai Shilpakar informed that the southern neighbor has agreed to supply electricity to Nepal by an additional four hours daily. According to him, Nepal will now be receiving electricity from 2 am to 5 pm, which was previously limited to between 6 am and 5 pm.

In the new development, India through a positive note to continue the previous bilateral agreement will be resuming supply of 600 MW of electricity to Nepal for the next two months. With an approval to import more electricity for longer hours from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), the NEA has stated it will help reduce power cuts ongoing in the industrial sector.

According to the NEA, Nepal currently produces an average of 1,175 MW of electricity, including the power generated from reservoirs, run-of-river and solar power plants. The peak demand (peak load) is 2,077 MW, while the maximum domestic generation is only 1,593 MW. The shortfall amount is being supplied from the imported electricity.

The NEA has been using the 400 kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur and the 132 kV Tanakpur-Mahendranagar and Mainaiya-Sampatiya transmission lines to import electricity. The state-owned power utility has been procuring electricity via a bidding process through the day-ahead and real-time markets of the IEX.

Issuing a public notice on Thursday, the NEA has stated that there is an improvement in domestic electricity production with an increased water flow in rivers of late. On top of this, additional imports will support enhanced electricity supply also to industrial consumers till the local supply comes to its optimum level in the upcoming rainy season, reads the NEA notice.