Finance Ministry gives green signal to electricity regulation commission
Published On : 31 January, 2018 8:34 am
The Energy Ministry has started homework to establish Nepal Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), after getting a green signal from the Finance Ministry.
Finance Ministry gave an approval allowing the Energy Ministry to seek further counsel from other ministries prior to the formation of NERC, according to a source at the ministry.
The government had floated – some 16 years ago – the idea of forming a high-level body that would regulate generation and transmission of electricity along with fixing tariffs and implementing a National Grid Code to govern power sector in the country.
Then Energy Minister Janardan Sharma has presented the Electricity Regulatory Commission Bill in the parliament and it got endorsed on August 2017.
After the draft is approved by Ministry of Law, Justice and Federal affairs, the cabinet will endorse it.
The regulator after its inception will develop a National Grid Code to govern the power entities in the Country. The Commission will also administer the power purchase agreements (PPA), fix tariffs and transmission-network charges, and initiate license-compliance monitoring in the beginning and work for creating a competitive market in power sector later on.
The Ministry will appoint Chairman and other members of the Commision soon.