Jun 1, 2017-
Nepal has requested India to consider lowering the price of electricity supplied through the cross-border transmission lines of Bihar state.
Nepali Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay met with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday and requested a review of the tariff of the power supply arrangement between the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited.
Nepal has been importing 145 MW of electricity through various transmission lines from Bihar, and it is planning to buy another 50 MW through the newly constructed Parwanipur-Raxaul power line.
Nepal pays Bihar IRs5.62 to IRs5.55 per unit. However, the energy imported through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur line costs only IRs 3.60 per unit. Nepal has long been asking India to slash the tariff for electricity imported from Bihar.
As the energy generation in the country goes down by more than 50 percent in the dry season due to lower water levels in the rivers, the NEA relies heavily on electricity imported from India to keep major cities in the country free from power cuts.
In order to make up for the deficit, Nepal has been importing more than 350 MW from India through various cross-border transmission lines.
Upadhyay also requested Chief Minister Kumar to increase the power supply to Nepal, the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi said.
They also discussed cooperation in water resources, electricity supply, cross-border infrastructure and connectivity, people-to-people relations and other areas of mutual interest during the meeting.
“They underlined the fact that working together for proper management of water resources in Nepal would result in multiple benefits for both Nepal and India in terms of flood control, power generation, irrigation, water navigation and others,” the Nepal Embassy said.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
