Electricity export exceeds 1 billion units, NEA earns nearly Rs 8 billion

KATHMANDU: Electricity export to India has exceeded 1 billion units. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) started selling excess monsoon electricity in the country through competition in the day-ahead market of the Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) from June 2. Since then till Tuesday i.e. till 11th of October, 1.3 billion units of electricity has been exported.

According to Kul Man Ghising, Managing Director of NEA, the authority earned Rs 7.93 billion from the export of electricity to India during this period. “Exceeding one billion units of electricity export is another milestone for us,” he said. The average price per unit of exported electricity is Rs 7.91.

Initially, 39 megawatts of electricity produced by two power plants were sold to IEX on a daily basis. Since then, from June 10, 364 megawatts of electricity produced by six hydropower plants have been sold in the Indian market at competitive rates.

Since electricity trade with India is done in Indian rupees (INR), Nepal has received INR 4 billion 957.6 million from the sale of electricity during this period. This is contributing to Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves and reducing the trade deficit between the two countries. The authority aims to earn about Rs 16 billion from electricity export in the current financial year.

In IEX, 24 hours are divided into 96 blocks of 15 minutes each and electricity is traded at a competitive rate set by the market. Therefore, the price of each block varies. The average rate of electricity exported by the NEA so far is Rs 7.91 per unit.