KATHMANDU: Nepal's energy usage has climbed significantly during the last year, by 8.5 million megawatt hours. This growth, which is a sign of a robust energy industry expansion, particularly due to ongoing hydropower development projects, is due to higher industrial and residential demand.

Compared to FY 2022/23, domestic consumption increased by 861,000 megawatt hours in FY 2023/24, indicating a significant expansion. The nation has profited from exporting excess electricity in addition to this expansion at home.

The Nepal Energy Authority (NEA) reports that both the overall quantity of energy used and the number of users have gone up. 10.227 million megawatt hours of power were used in the fiscal year 2080–81, bringing in Rs 99.63 billion. Compared to the previous year, when consumption was 9.365 million kilowatt hours and revenue was Rs 90.46 billion, this indicates a significant increase.

According to NEA statistics, the domestic sector constitutes 95.54 percent of its customer base, while other sectors include industrial (1.26 percent), commercial (0.75 percent), non-commercial (0.71 percent), and various other sectors (5.73 percent). The domestic sector alone accounted for 42.12 percent of total electricity usage, whereas the industrial sector consumed 36.12 percent of the electricity.

Nepal's electrification rate increased from 98 percent in FY 2022–2023 to 99 percent in FY 2023–2024, demonstrating the country's progress in expanding access to power.

The greatest power users are still households, which used 4.308 million megawatt hours in FY 2023–2024 and brought in Rs 38.41 billion. This is more than the 3.896 million megawatt hours of consumption from the previous fiscal year, which brought in Rs 34.51 billion.

Strong demand was also demonstrated by the industrial sector, which generated Rs 36.64 billion in income and used 3.694 million kilowatt hours in FY 2023–2024. The 3.586 million megawatt hours used in FY 2022–2023, which produced Rs 34.77 billion, were up from this.

During FY 2023–2024, the business sector generated Rs 11.59 billion from the use of 825,885 megawatt hours of electricity. This indicates an energy rise over the previous fiscal year, when 736,663 kilowatt hours were used and Rs 10.34 billion was produced.

Growth was also seen in the non-commercial sector, which in FY 2023–2024 generated Rs 4.54 billion and consumed 322,636 kilowatt hours. This represents an increase over FY 2022–2023 consumption of 275,976 megawatt hours, which produced Rs 3.89 billion.

In FY 2023–2024, irrigation generated Rs 532.15 million from the utilization of 212,931 kilowatt hours of power. This exceeds the Rs 350.74 million and 143,888 kilowatt hours from the prior year. Furthermore, water supply services generated Rs 1.29 billion from 192,309 megawatt hours of consumption in FY 2023–2024, as opposed to Rs 934.69 million and 171,184 megawatt hours in FY 2022–2023.

In general, the data shows a strong rise in electricity consumption in Nepal across a number of sectors, illustrating the rising energy demands brought on by both domestic and commercial requirements. This pattern highlights how hydropower projects are continuing to advance and how electrification efforts are spreading throughout the nation.