NEA earned more than Rs 130 million by selling electricity to India in last one month

2012

Kathmandu. When Nepal sells electricity in the Indian market, it is seen that up to 18 percent of the total transaction amount is spent as various service charges which comes to Rs 0.76 per unit . According to the Nepal Electricity Authority, electricity worth Rs 139.26 million has been sold to India in the last one month. Out of this, only Rs 21 million 72 thousand has been spent on service charges. According to NEA, the amount was spent on corridor charge (wheeling charge), power exchange charge and fees to be paid to the intermediary company.

The NEA has sold electricity worth Rs. 139.26 million from November 3 to December 4. The actual transaction amount after deduction of various service charges is only Rs. 118.183 million. This is the real profit made by NEA by selling electricity to India. At present, electricity generated from the 24 MW Trishuli and 15 MW Devighat hydropower projects is being sold in the Indian market through Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX).

NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that various companies have to pay the fee as corridor charge. NEA has paid corridor charge of  Rs 19.39 million in the last one month of electricity trade with India alone. The Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 kV inter-country transmission line used by Nepal to send electricity to India is jointly owned by two companies from Nepal and India.

“The wheeling charge of the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur line will be borne by Nepal-owned Power Transmission Company Nepal Limited (PTCNL) and India-owned Cross border Power Transmission Company Limited (CPTC),” Bhattarai said. ‘

The wheeling charge of the structure used to transport the electricity sold from any one point to the place where it is consumed has to be paid. At present, when Nepal sells electricity, it has to pay the same fee to the Power Grid Corporation of India besides the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur interstate transmission line. The electricity from Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur to India has to be paid due to the use of Power Grid Corporation’s structure to reach various places in Bihar.

NEA has paid Rs. 8 lakh 98 thousand 560 to Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) as power exchange charge. IEX is a platform to participate in the auction process to sell electricity in the Indian market. NEA is not selling electricity directly to India but through Indian intermediary company NTPC Electricity Trading Corporation Limited (NVVN).

Every day, NVVN participates in the auction process, offers the price of electricity sold in the Indian market and pays for the electricity sold. NVVN has taken Rs. 786,000 from NEA for working as a nodal agency and mediator. Thus, the service fee paid under three headings is equal to 17.83 percent of the total electricity trade done by NEA in one month period.

 

Source :  Kantipur Daily