Kathmandu, Mar. 19: The meeting of the electricity exchange committee between Nepal and India has decided that Nepal will decide the modality for the export of electricity to other states through the transmission grid of Bihar state.
The 14th meeting of the committee held on Friday in the capital of India, New Delhi, has decided to decide within a month the modality of electricity export by Nepal to other states through the central transmission grid of India through the grid of Bihar state. The meeting was held under the co-chairmanship of Kulman Ghising, Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority and Ashok Kumar Rajput, Member of Power System of Central Electricity Authority of India.
“Nepal will export electricity by connecting it to the central grid of India from the point where the transmission line is connected to Bihar. For this, both sides will finalize the modality within a month. This has ensured an additional market for the sale of electricity consumed in the country during the rainy season,” said Ghising, the managing director of the authority.
Kataiya (Bihar)-Kushwa (Nepal) and Raxaul-Parwanipur 132 KV transmission lines are connected with Bihar. The tenth meeting of Nepal-India Energy Secretary-level joint directorate committee held last February decided to complete the construction of the second circuit of Kataiya-Kushwa and Raxaul-Parwanipur 132 KV transmission lines by March 2023 and April-May 2023 respectively.
The electricity exchange committee meeting has fixed the rate of 7.21 Indian rupees (11 rupees 54 paisa) per unit of electricity to be imported and exported under the electricity exchange agreement. For the financial year 2022-23, the electricity exchange rate through 132 kV transmission line has been fixed.
According to the electricity exchange agreement, the Nepal Electricity Authority has been importing electricity from India’s Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand when needed. The authority imports the most electricity from Bihar when required compared to the other two states. Only Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are connected with Nepal through 132 KV transmission lines.
The managing director of the authority, Ghising, said that the new rate has been set so that Nepal can get electricity whenever it wants, and the rate will be applicable even when exporting to India. The rate fixed for the year 2019-20 could not be reviewed for the subsequent years, the authority was sending the bill for the electricity imported by adding an annual price increase of five and a half percent from the Indian side. 49 crore 60 lakh rupees) has benefited’, Ghising said. “The new fixed rate is not on take-or-pay basis, it is the rate of electricity that will be purchased when we need it. Since electricity will be imported only when we need it, this rate is cheaper than the current Indian market. We will get the same rate even when we export electricity.”
He said that last December, when he asked Indian companies through bidding for the sale of electricity, they submitted proposals of Rs 7.50 and Rs 8.70 per unit for February and March, April and May respectively. “The companies selected in the competition are only allowed to sell the electricity produced from imported coal to Nepal. Since the price of coal is fluctuating, these companies were not ready to enter into an agreement with the authority even with the proposed rate,” Ghising said. “Since the regime of imported coal is not applicable to the state of Bihar, the rate has become cheaper. Even in the competitive market, the average rate of electricity per unit has gone up to 12 Bharu on a daily basis. One and a half rupees is added to it, including the transmission fee, so the rate fixed now is cheaper than others.”
The meeting decided that Nepal will decide the modality for exporting electricity to Bihar within a month. “It has been decided that both sides will finalize the modality within a month to export from the point where Nepal is connected to the transmission line with Bihar, this has ensured an additional market for selling electricity consumed in the country in Bihar,” Ghising said.
When necessary, the authority imports electricity from India commercially through competition in the day-ahead market of Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX), power exchange agreement (power exchange) and electricity from India under the Mahakali Treaty. Commercially, Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border is bringing electricity from India through 400 KV double circuit transmission line and from other places under power exchange.
The authority has earned 8.44 billion rupees by selling the excess monsoon electricity consumed within the country in the current financial year in the Indian market.