Nepal sends tariff proposal to Bangladesh to export 40MW electricity

Nepal has sent a tariff proposal to Bangladesh to export 40MW of electricity.

According to a report of a Nepalese daily The Kathmandu Post, the tariff of per unit electricity (each kilowatt hour) is below Nepalese Rupee 10 (Tk 8.3).

"We recently sent a tariff proposal to the Bangladesh side," said Pradeep Kumar Thike, deputy managing director (power trade) of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

"The rate that we have proposed is approximately equivalent to the rate that we are charging India under a five-year power purchase agreement," he told the Nepalese daily.

He, however, said he doesn't want to divulge the actual tariff the NEA has proposed.

"But based on a five-year long power purchase agreement signed between the NEA and the Indian NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) Limited back in May last year, the tariff could be below Rs 10 (Nepali) per unit," he said.

In September last year, Bangladesh granted approval to Nepal to sell 110MW of power generated by the 83.42MW Solu Khola (Dudh Koshi) and 26.19MW Dordi Khola Hydropower Project to India as per the agreement signed between the NEA and NVVN Limited.

According to NEA officials, tariff is the final part of the ongoing negotiation with Bangladesh regarding the sale of 40MW.

Earlier, Bangladesh's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in a meeting on December 6 last year approved a proposal in principle to import the power from the Himalayan nation.

On August 28 last year, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that import of hydropower from Nepal was almost final.