November 30, 2019
Kathmandu: The government is mulling over providing a 50 percent subsidy on induction stoves to consumers to increase consumption of electricity in the domestic market.
The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI) recently asked the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to subsidise induction stoves and help promote its use to raise the consumption of electricity, as per sources.
Currently, the country is producing almost 1,220 megawatts of electricity. However, the government expects that almost 1,000 megawatts of electricity will be added to the national grid within this fiscal year with the completion of large hydropower projects such as 456-megawatt Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project and 111-megawatt Rasuwagadi Hydropower Project, among others.
As per MoEWRI, the private sector is currently developing hydropower projects across the country with collective installed capacity of 3,000 megawatts. Once these projects are completed, the country is expected to have huge surplus of electricity.
The government has been floating different plans to ensure consumption of surplus electricity, which ranges from increasing domestic consumption by promoting induction stoves and electric vehicles to exporting energy to neighbouring countries like India and Bangladesh.
Source: The Himalayan Times
