June 25: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has stated that the consumption of electricity has been gradually increasing after the relaxation of prohibitory order. Due to the prohibitory order imposed to contain the second wave of coronavirus, the demand for electricity had gone down. 

The government has eased the restrictions since June 22 in the valley. Ever since, the consumption of electricity has gone up. Spokesperson of NEA, Madan Timisina said that the power consumption stood at 1365 MW during the peak hour on June 22. During the period of prohibitory order, electricity consumption had declined to 1170 MW at the peak hour. Timsina said that demand for electricity has improved following the relaxation of prohibitory order. 

After the government eased people's movement, corporate offices, banks and financial institutions, industries, departmental stores have come into operation leading to a rise in electricity consumption. 

The NEA is currently generating 400MW electricity through different projects. The private sector is generating 440 MW electricity and an additional 520 MW is being imported from India.

"Due to landslides and floods, some of the NEA projects are not in operation so import of electricity has been increased,” Timsina informed. Before the government imposed restrictions, the normal peak hour demand was 1300 MW which was reduced to 1170 MW. 

Meanwhile, the prohibitory order imposed this time did not affect the electricity consumption as much as in the first phase of lockdown. The power consumption had reduced to 600 MW during the lockdown imposed in 2020.