Nepal Resumes Power Supply to Bangladesh
Nepal has resumed electricity exports to Bangladesh after severe flooding in the Bhotekoshi region damaged two of its power plants and halted electricity supplies to Bangladesh. On Friday evening, Nepal restarted the supply of 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh through the Indian grid.
According to Nepalese newspaper The Kathmandu Post, floods on August 26 this year severely damaged the Trishuli and Chilime power plants. These were the two plants previously authorised to supply electricity to Bangladesh. The floods disrupted not only electricity exports to Bangladesh but also supplies to India’s Haryana state.
Dhirghayu Kumar Shrestha, managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), said exports to Bangladesh had resumed after India’s Central Electricity Authority allowed electricity to be supplied from several other power plants.
Under the new arrangement, electricity will be supplied to Bangladesh from the Solu Khola and Kabeli B-1 power plants. The Lower Modi Khola plant has been selected to supply electricity to Haryana. This arrangement replaces the previous allocation involving the Trishuli, Chilime and Devighat hydropower plants.
Mr. Shrestha said restoring electricity supplies to Bangladesh and continuing cross-border electricity trade through other projects was a significant achievement for Nepal, despite damage to power plants and transmission lines caused by the floods. He expressed hope that Nepal would be able to make better use of its surplus electricity during the monsoon season and expand electricity trade with neighbouring countries.
On October 3, 2024, the NEA and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) signed a five-year agreement for seasonal electricity supplies. Under the agreement, Nepal supplies 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh annually from June 15 to November 15.
Meanwhile, despite flood damage to several power plants, Nepal earned 5.925 billion rupees by selling electricity to India between mid-September and mid-October 2026. The revenue was significantly higher than earnings during the same period last year and the preceding month.
According to data from the NEA’s Load Dispatch Centre, Nepal exported 633.986 million units of electricity to India during this period, generating revenue of 5.925 billion rupees. The total could have been higher if several authorised power plants had not been forced to shut down because of the sudden floods.
The figures show that Nepal earned 962 million rupees more than the 4.963 billion rupees recorded during the same period last year. Revenue also increased by 832.5 million rupees compared with the previous reporting period, from mid-August to mid-September this year.
Nepal exported electricity to India through two main channels. Under bilateral agreements, it supplied power to the Indian states of Haryana and Bihar. The remaining electricity was sold through competitive bidding in the Indian Energy Exchange’s (IEX) Day-Ahead and Real-Time markets.
The NEA exports only the surplus electricity remaining after meeting domestic demand, particularly during the monsoon season when hydropower generation increases. Under medium-term bilateral agreements, Nepal supplies electricity to Haryana and Bihar each year from June to October.
During the first three months of the 2026–27 fiscal year, Nepal earned a total of 16.1513 billion rupees from electricity exports to foreign markets. NEA Managing Director Shrestha said the increase in export revenue between September and October was encouraging, despite the closure of several power plants. Nearly two-thirds of the electricity exported to India during this period was supplied under bilateral agreements, while the remainder was traded through the Indian Energy Exchange.
