India and Nepal have agreed on signing a crucial energy banking deal to ensure optimum utilisation of surplus electricity available between the two countries at any given time.
The decision was taken at the 13th meeting of the Power Exchange Committee (PEC) held in the Indian capital New Delhi on Thursday.
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A senior Indian government official, who did not wish to be named, told Sputnik that under the deal, Nepal would supply energy to India during the summer season and import energy from India during the winter season. The two countries have agreed on the draft of the guidelines containing the procedure to implement the deal.
"Joint Secretary-level Joint Working Group and Joint Secretary-level Joint Steering Committee are expected to meet in January wherein they will endorse the directive", another official privy to the meeting told Sputnik.
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Under the power banking mechanism, one country exports electricity to the other when it has a surplus and imports back the same amount in case of a deficit.
The two countries also discussed power tariffs pertaining to electricity imports and modality of the cross-border power transmission line. Nepal is currently purchasing 400 megawatts of electricity from India every day.
