September 21: Nepal Electricity Authority has exported electricity worth more than Rs 7 billion to the Indian market in the last four months. In the second month of the current fiscal year, export of electricity amounted to Rs 2.42 billion.
NEA has said that 246.5 million units of surplus electricity were exported between mid-August to mid-September. The export generated a revenue of Rs 2.41 billion. In monsoon, NEA sold the surplus electricity through competition in the day-ahead market of Indian Energy Exchange Limited from June 2.
In the beginning, 39 megawatts of electricity produced by two power plants were sold in the Indian Energy Exchange Market daily.
Since June 10, 364 megawatts of electricity produced by six hydropower plants have been sold daily in the Indian market at competitive rates.
NEA has earned Rs 7.19 billion by selling 787.8 million units of electricity in the Indian market between May, June, July and August. As the electricity trade with India is done in Indian rupees, Nepal has received INR 4.49 billion from the export of electricity in four months.
Kulman Ghising, executive director of NEA, said that every month when electricity exports increase, the amount received from it is contributed to Nepal's foreign exchange reserves which helps reduces the trade deficit between the two countries.
"In the current fiscal year, the target is to earn about Rs 16 billion from electricity export," he said.
Ghising added that since the festival is about to start, domestic consumption will be slightly reduced due to the closure of industries and factories, but the production will be at full capacity. So, the NEA has proposed exporting about 200 megawatts of electricity which is subject to approval by the government.
In Indian Energy Exchange Market, 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 is different. The average rate of electricity exported by NEA in August is Rs 9.80 per unit.
