Bedraj Poudel

October 18: The State Government of Bihar, India has started borrowing 355 MW of electricity from Nepal during off-hours after the supply of electricity from thermal plants in India started declining due to lack of coal. According to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), India has started consuming 2,000 MW/hour of electricity from Nepal on a daily basis.

India sells electricity to Nepal at the rate of Rs 9.60 per unit. As per this calculation, Nepal is lending 2 million units of electricity worth Rs 19.2 million for 12 hours a day to India at the rate of Rs 9.60 per unit. When there is a shortage of electricity in Nepal during the dry season, India will return the electricity.

According to Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, spokesperson of NEA, a total of 355 MW of electricity including 85 MW from Raxaul, 150 MW form Duhabi, 70MW from Ramnagar, 50 MW from Dhalkebar is provided to Bihar, India from 6 pm to 10 am as per the demand from the neighbouring country.

On an average, India is currently consuming 2,000 MW/hour of electricity from Nepal.

Bhattarai said that the Ministry of Energy of the Government of India is borrowing the electricity from Nepal as there is no official decision on purchasing electricity from Nepal.

He revealed that the Ministry of Energy of India will soon sign an agreement with the Government of Nepal to purchase electricity as there is a shortage of electricity in India.