Nepal exported electricity worth Rs 4.19 billion to India in the first month of the current fiscal year 2024/25.

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) exported surplus electricity, generated during the rainy season, to India, in the Nepali month of Shrawn (mid-July to mid-August), earning an income of Rs 4.193 billion. The daily export value of electricity in the review month was Rs 131.1 million.

Electricity trade with India is conducted in Indian rupees (INR). In the review month, NEA earned INR 2.621 billion from the sale of electricity. The average export rate for electricity in mid-July to mid-August was Rs 8.51 per unit.

Currently, more than 700 megawatts electricity are being exported daily.

Kulman Ghising, executive director of NEA, emphasized that while occasional power outages due to natural and technical reasons still occur, load-shedding due to an inability to meet the demand is no longer necessary.

He added, "Our first priority is to increase electricity consumption within the country. To achieve this, we have implemented a campaign to improve and expand the transmission and distribution system. The surplus electricity will be exported to neighboring countries India and Bangladesh."

Ghising also highlighted that exporting electricity to India during the rainy season is positively contributing to Nepal's foreign exchange reserves and helping to reduce the trade deficit between Nepal and India.

"Although we still need to import electricity for a few months in winter, the volume of imports is gradually decreasing. We have transitioned from being a net importer to a net exporter by selling surplus electricity to the Indian market since last year," he stated.

NEA is selling surplus electricity to the Indian company NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) at competitive rates in the day-ahead and real-time markets of the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and through a bilateral medium-term electricity sales agreement. NVVN is selling the electricity in the state of Haryana.

So far, NEA has received approval to sell 941 MW of electricity produced by 28 projects in the Indian market under the competitive market and medium-term sales agreements. Recently, an additional 251 MW of electricity was approved for export to Bihar and Haryana under a bilateral agreement. Of this, 125.89 MW generated from two more hydropower projects will be sold to Haryana through NVVN. Currently, 109.61 MW of electricity from these two projects is being sold in Haryana.

Additionally, 125 MW of electricity generated from 10 hydropower projects will be exported to Bihar through PTC India Ltd under the mid-term agreement. The export of electricity to Bihar and the additional export to Haryana will commence soon after completing the necessary technical processes.

At present, 580.89 MW of electricity produced by 14 projects are being sold at competitive rates on IEX. Since the export of the newly approved quantity has not yet started, currently, 690.50 MW of electricity is being exported daily to IEX and Haryana. Up to 10% more electricity than the approved quantity can be exported, leading to the export of more than 700 MW of electricity daily.

Last year, Nepal imported electricity worth Rs 16.93 billion from India, while exporting electricity worth Rs 17.6 billion.