India has agreed to exchange 40 mw more of electricity with Nepal by October, local newspaper The Himalayan Times reported Saturday.

The agreement was reached at the eighth meeting of the Nepal- India Power Exchange Committee (NIPECS) which concluded here on Friday.

India has agreed to upgrade the Duhabi-Kataiya, India-Nepal transmission line, which will enable Nepal to import an additional 40 megawatt (mw) of electricity annually. Currently, Nepal has been importing 50 mw of electricity through the transmission line annually

The upgrade of the transmission line is expected to be completed by October this year.

"I believe we will be finally able to import 40 mw of electricity. Load-shedding next year may not be as severe as this year," Arjun Kumar Karki, managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority and head of the Nepali delegation at the meeting, told reporters after the meeting.

Nepal will also export 40 mw of electricity to India during the rainy season at a competitive price.

The issue of revision of power tariff, which has remained undecided since 2003, was also resolved, with Indian and Nepali officials agreeing on an annual tariff hike of 5 percent for January 2004 to June 2008 against the annual tariff hike of 8.5 percent. The meeting fixed annual tariff hike of 5.5 percent for July 2008 to June 2009.

The meeting of the NIPECS is supposed to be held every year. But no meetings have taken place since 2003 due to issues related to power exchange.

Source: Xinhua