At a time when the demands of LPG Gas have drastically increased with shortage of gas in the market, Kul Man Ghising, Managing Director (MD) of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has announced to use the electric appliances in the kitchen as much as possible.

For the people who have been visiting one place to other for a cylinder of gas, this announcement is a matter of big relief as it will end the trauma to run for gas.

Since the low demand of electricity goes down, NEA is forced to close the hydropower at the night.

The demand for power in peak time is limited to 945 MW at present while it was 1,200 MW throughout the country before the announcement of the lockdown.

MD Ghising also calls people to use more electricity appliances in kitchen. As the demand of electricity has decreased sharply following the announcement of nationwide lockdown from Tuesday and the high electricity consumption sectors such as factories, hotels, commercial complexes and offices, power consumption has declined drastically, there is surplus of energy in national grid.

“All offices and industries except for those of essential service sectors are closed and the power is being consumed only for household use, in a sharp reduction of power consumption,” said MD Ghising said.

The power consumption at the night time Tuesday declined to 483 MW across the country and the demand for power decreased to 446 MW Wednesday morning, it said. Likewise, the demand for power stood at 628 MW Wednesday afternoon.

The demand for power even in the Kathmandu Valley, where the power demand used to be often high, decreased sharply. Power demand in Kathmandu stood at 290 MW on Tuesday while overall demand of the country stood at 945 MW.

According to NEA, Kathmandu used to consume 350 MW before the implementation of the lockdown. The demand for power in Kathmandu was recorded at 103 MW Tuesday morning and 117 MW Tuesday night.

The demand for power is gradually decreasing in the Kathmandu Valley as power demand was limited to 104 MW Wednesday morning and 182 MW in the afternoon of the same day.

Ghising asked the consumers to use electric equipment, including induction stoves, with confidence in this context as the NEA has enough power to supply.

He said that the NEA had deployed employees round the clock to resolve any technical problems to end any disruption in power supply.

As the demand falls, the import of electricity from India had also decreased following the reduction in its demand in the country.

“We are importing only around 150 MW from India in the peak demand time only from the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur Transmission line. We will import only 50 MW power on Thursday,” he said.