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In a landmark move to liberalize Nepal’s electricity sector, the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved a draft of a directive that allows the private sector to participate in electricity trading through open access to the power grid. The 276th board meeting of the EC took the decision on Wednesday. 

The new directive proposes allowing private producers and traders to buy and sell electricity within Nepal or export it abroad without relying solely on the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for power purchase agreements. Open access refers to the provision that enables producers, power traders, and large consumers to use the national transmission and distribution infrastructure without discrimination. As per the guidelines, a wheeling charge of 39 paisa per unit has been proposed for the short term access to the power grid. Similarly, a monthly wheeling charge of Rs 283,842 per MW has been proposed for the mid-term and long-term access.

Under the proposed guideline, the minimum transaction threshold for domestic consumption is set at 5 MW, while cross-border trade requires a minimum of 10 MW.  The directive aims to reduce risks faced by electricity suppliers, enhance investor confidence and encourage infrastructure development by engaging the private sector in electricity trade. Open access is also expected to pave the way for a wholesale electricity market in Nepal.

The budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2025/26 has introduced ‘take and pay’ provision for power purchase agreement (PPA) instead of ‘take or pay’. Independent power producers have opposed the provision. However, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel said in the parliament that the decision to enforce ‘take and pay’ provision was aimed at involving the private sector in the electricity trade.

The ERC has also laid out eligibility criteria for open access users. As per the draft guidelines hydropower plants with a capacity of at least 5 MW connected to a 33 kV or higher grid, captive plants with a minimum of 1 MW capacity, and industrial or commercial consumers meeting similar standards are eligible to participate in electricity trade. Applicants must also hold a distribution or trading license.

The guidelines have categorized electricity trading contracts through open access into three categories—short-term (from 24 hours up to one year), mid-term (more than one year to up to five-years) and long-term (more than five-years). However, the draft guidelines clearly state that traders can export electricity only when domestic consumption and demand have been met. Projects permitted by the government or those exporting through NEA are exempt from this requirement.

The directive designates NEA’s System Operations Department as the nodal agency for implementing. The Department will have to publish detailed procedures and agreement drafts within 120 days of the approval of the directive. The ERC will also have to prepare additional regulatory frameworks such as metering codes, deviation settlement mechanisms and grid connectivity directives.

Seven cases of malaria were detected in Chitwan district in the current fiscal year. 

Such a number of malaria patients was found in the course of conducting a sample test of 7,989 people who visited the District Public Health Office, Chitwan, for the suspected malaria infection. 

Vector Control Inspector Ram KC said the infection was seen in the people returned from overseas employment. A total of 10 people were infected from malaria last fiscal year. 

Specially, people aged above 15 years suffer from this disease. 

Malaria is mostly transmitted to people from the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. 

Fever, headache, vomiting, and tiredness are symptoms of malaria.  

KC said it was necessary to keep the surroundings clean, sleep under mosquito nets to be protected from mosquito bites.

Besisahar-Chame road, the only roadway connecting Lamjung and Manang, has been blocked due to a landslide at Marsyangdi Rural Municipality- 4 this morning.

Naveen Bista, Information Officer of the Dumre-Besisahar-Chame Road Project Office, said, "The land with large rocks has blocked the road, stranding vehicles on the way."

According to him, it will take time to clear the road because of the immense size of the landslide. 

A landslide had blocked the road near that location on June 18.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 800 per tola in the domestic market on Friday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow metal is being traded at Rs 194, 700 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 195, 500 per tola on Thursday..

Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by 50 and is being traded at Rs 2, 150 per tola today.

A landslide occurred at Dablyang in Baglung Municipality-10 has disrupted vehicular movement in the Kaligandaki corridor since last night. 

The landslide has washed away a section of the road in Dablyang after a heavy rain.

Assistant Sub-Inspector of Nepal Police Ganga Ram BK said that vehicular movement to the southern part of the Baglung district headquarters were obstructed after the road disruption.

Likewise, the vehicles left for the long routes are also off the road.

The Birgunj Inland Revenue Office has collected more than Rs 8.52 billion in revenue in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year 2081/82 BS.

The collection is more than the Office's target.

During the review period, the Office was expected to collect slightly more than Rs 7.51 billion. 

Chief Tax Officer of the Birgunj Inland Revenue Office, Tikaraj Chaulagain, said the Office collected 113.36 percent of the total target set for the first 11 months of the running fiscal year. 

According to the Office, the highest amount of the collection was received from the excise duty, which is Rs 4.5 billion.

Likewise, Rs 2.55 billion was collected under the income tax while Rs 251 million was received from the house rental tax. 

Similarly, Rs 1.83 billion was collected against the target of Rs 2.22 billion under the heading of the value added tax (VAT) during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, according to the Birgunj Inland Revenue Office.   

A Russian missile strike on a nine-story Kyiv apartment building was a sign that more pressure must be applied on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, as Moscow intensifies attacks in the war, Associated Press reported.

The drone and missile attack on Kyiv early Tuesday, the deadliest assault on the capital this year, killed 28 people across the city and wounded 142 others, Kyiv Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said. 

Zelenskyy, along with the head of the presidential office, Andrii Yermak, and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, visited the site of the apartment building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district on Thursday morning, laying flowers and paying tribute to the 23 people who died there after a direct hit by a missile brought down the structure.

“This attack is a reminder to the world that Russia rejects a ceasefire and chooses killing,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, and thanked Ukraine’s partners who he said are ready to pressure Russia to “feel the real cost of the war," according to Associated Press.

For years, Israel has targeted Iranian nuclear scientists, hoping to choke progress on Iran’s nuclear program by striking at the brains behind it, Associated Press reported.

Now, with Iran and Israel in an open-ended direct conflict, scientists in Israel have found themselves in the crosshairs after an Iranian missile struck a premier research institute known for its work in life sciences and physics, among other fields.

While no one was killed in the strike on the Weizmann Institute of Science early Sunday, it caused heavy damage to multiple labs on campus, snuffing out years of scientific research and sending a chilling message to Israeli scientists that they and their expertise are now targets in the escalating conflict with Iran.

“It’s a moral victory” for Iran, said Oren Schuldiner, a professor in the department of molecular cell biology and the department of molecular neuroscience whose lab was obliterated in the strike. “They managed to harm the crown jewel of science in Israel," according to Associated Press.