Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet has said the government will bring a clear policy of increasing the power consumption within the country itself first.
Addressing a programme held on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) in Kathmandu today, Minister Basnet said domestic power consumption capacity will be enhanced. “First we give priority to fulfilling the domestic demand and we will move ahead in a planned manner for scaling up the power consumption for domestic purposes, industrial sector and transport sector,” Minister Basnet added.
He said that the government has a policy of carrying out electrification in cent per cent sectors, and added the cooperation of the public, private and community sectors is necessary to that end. The Energy Minister also shared that preparations were ongoing for tabling the Electricity Bill in the Federal Parliament for making the power sector systematised. He informed that the bill incorporated topics like increased production and making arrangements for infrastructures for trade and distribution.
Director General at the Department of Electricity Development (DoED) Chiranjeewee Chataut emphasized the role of the energy sector in the country’s economic prosperity and suggested that the regulatory body strengthen its role.
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Executive Director Kul Man Ghising urged the ERC to pay attention to the regulation of the energy sector in the country.
Likewise, Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) President Krishna Prasad Acharya called for allowing the private sector to carry out power trade to fulfil the vision, ‘Nepal’s Water, Fountain of Prosperity’.
ERC Chairman Dilli Bahadur Singh informed that the commission has prepared a dozen of tools for regulating the energy sector and it was in the process of developing more required tools. He said the commission is playing a positive role in resolving the dispute between the ongoing projects and the NEA.
The ERC was established in 2076 BS for ensuring smooth, regular, well-managed and transparent production, transmission, distribution and trade of power, for maintaining balance between the demand and supply of power, for regulating the electricity tariff and for protecting the consumer interests.
