October 12: Nepal has exported more than 1 billion units of electricity to India this season. The Nepal Electricity Authority started selling the surplus electricity during the rainy season through competitive bidding in the day-ahead market of the Indian Energy Exchange Limited from June 2. Since then, as per the information of the authority, 1.3 billion units of electricity has been exported to India.

The authority's executive director Kulman Ghising informed that during this period, a net income of Rs 7.93 billion was generated by selling the surplus electricity.

“Selling more than 1 billion units of electricity is another milestone for us,” said Ghising.

According to the authority, the average price per unit of exported electricity is Rs 7.91.

Initially, the electricity produced from 39 megawatts of two power plants was sold in the Indian market on a daily basis. According to the authority, since June 10, an additional 364 megawatts of electricity produced by six hydropower plants were sold in the Indian market at a competitive rate per day.

Since the electricity trade with India is done in Indian rupees (INR), Nepal received INR 4.95 billion from the sale of electricity during this period. This has contributed to reducing the pressure on Nepal's foreign exchange reserves and the trade deficit between the two countries. The authority aims to earn about Rs 16 billion from electricity exports in the current fiscal year.

In the Indian Energy Exchange Limited, 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 the authority so far is Rs 7.91 per unit.