Neighboring country Nepal has offered to buy electricity from Bangladesh in winter. If both countries agree, electricity can be exported to Nepal in winter especially during dry season. However, Bangladesh wants to import electricity from Nepal in summer. Nepal made such an offer during the talks on importing the 40 MW of interest. According to sources in the Ministry of Electricity, the matter will be finalized soon.
According to sources, the demand for electricity in Bangladesh decreases during winter. Fan-AC operation is usually not required at this time. As a result, there is no additional pressure on Bangladesh’s electricity, there is a surplus. And since electricity cannot be stored, ‘earthing’ has to be done. On the other hand, the demand for electricity in Nepal increases during this period. Because Nepal’s electricity production decreases in winter.
Himalayan Nepal’s electricity is mainly hydroelectric. During severe winters, power generation is stopped due to ice accumulation there. Apart from this, people of Nepal use room heaters extensively to keep the house warm in winter to avoid the cold. This increases the demand for electricity; Which is not possible for the power department of Nepal to produce and supply. Therefore, Nepal has proposed to import surplus electricity from Bangladesh to meet the electricity crisis in winter. Bangladesh is considering this proposal, said the Electricity Department.
It is known that when the demand for electricity increases in Bangladesh during the summer, even though there is production capacity, electricity production is interrupted due to various reasons. Because of that, administrative activities are going on with both the countries to import electricity from Nepal to meet the demand. All preparations are being made in this regard. The electricity department is also holding regular meetings to finalize the issues.
The matter of importing 40 MW electricity from Nepal for Bangladesh is getting finalized soon. For this, everything is being finalized by considering the import details in the agreement between Nepal and Bangladesh. For this reason, the concerned parties are having meetings among themselves one after another. Sources said that the summary taken in the meeting will be sent to the Prime Minister in charge of the Power Minister. Subject to the Prime Minister’s approval, it will be sent to the Law Ministry for legal opinion. After getting the opinion of the Law Ministry, the matter will be presented in the Cabinet meeting. The power department said that it will be finalized after getting the approval of the cabinet.
Meanwhile, recently an online news portal of Nepal “Kathmandu Post” said in a report that there is a delay in electricity export from Nepal to Bangladesh. Because the country is yet to finalize the trilateral agreement with India and the issue of tariff determination between Bangladesh and Nepal. However, Nepal wants to start exporting electricity to Bangladesh through India’s transmission infrastructure during the dry season.
However, since the Indian grid has to be used in this case, Delhi’s consent is required. So a tripartite agreement (Bangladesh-India-Nepal) should be made with India. Apart from this, the issue of tariff determination on electricity import is also unresolved. That also needs to be resolved. Nepal is awaiting a response to the imposition of tariffs. As a result, the cabinet committee will have to decide on the two important issues of the tripartite agreement and the pending tariff rate. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is the head of this committee. This information was found in the relevant sources.
In this context, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that the issue of importing 40 MW electricity from Nepal is under discussion, let it be finalized first. If Nepal wants to buy Bangladesh’s surplus electricity during their winter crisis, we can consider exporting electricity to Nepal.
According to a source, Bangladesh’s Power Development Board, Electricity Authority of Nepal and India’s Electricity Development Corporation reached an agreement on electricity price and transmission fee in May last year regarding the import of electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh. The transmission charges and service fees have to be paid by the Indian authorities. The transmission charges will be equivalent to what the electricity authorities of India currently charge consumers. It will be determined as per the open norms of India. Hence, a tripartite agreement is needed to import electricity from Nepal, involving India. The electricity department said that an agreement will be made in this regard soon.
In this context, the State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid said that the matter of importing 40 megawatts of electricity from Nepal to meet the needs of the country during the summer is under process. However, the demand for electricity in our country decreases during winter. On the contrary, it grows in Nepal. Since they could not produce electricity according to demand at that time, they expressed interest in buying electricity from Bangladesh. We are considering the matter.
