PM wrong in saying Nepal is currently not using even 300 MW

Sujit Mainali / May 13, 2016

A transmission line in Rasuwa.

Addressing the parliament on May 23, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said that currently Nepal does not consume even 300 MW of electricity.

“We have been generating electricity for the past 105 years, but we are not using even 300 MW this evening,” he said.

South Asia Check has fact checked the following two statements of the prime minister:

First statement: Nepal has been generating electricity for the past 105 years.

Second statement: But we are not using even 300 MW this evening.

First Statement: Nepal has been generating electricity for the past 105 years.

The 500 KW Pharping hydropower project constructed in 1911 is the first hydropower project in Nepal. Click here for more information.

So, Oli is correct in saying that it has been 105 years since the first hydropower project was constructed.

Second Statement: But we are not using even 300 MW this evening.

Two days after PM Oli made the statement, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) released “Daily Operation Report“, which shows that Nepal consumed 658.12 MW of electricity on May 25.

Out of the 658.12 MW, 272.80 MW was generated by the NEA itself, 84.88 MW was purchased from the private-sector projects in Nepal, and the remaining 300.44 was imported from India.

So, the prime minister is wrong in saying that Nepal currently does not consume even 300 MW.

If the prime minister hinted at NEA’s power generation, then he is correct because NEA projects are currently generating just 272.8 MW.

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