DSM techniques implemented by Nepal Government

Demand side management (DSM) in Nepal is carried out mainly by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) together with the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, AEPC and donor programmes. Effective techniques used are:

1. Efficient lighting programme: NEA distributed CFL lamps (around 2010–11) and later promoted LED lamps in place of incandescent bulbs. This cut the evening peak load by several tens of MW.
2. Time of day (TOD) tariff: industries and bulk consumers are billed at higher rates in the evening peak (about 17:00–23:00) and lower rates at night, so load is shifted to off-peak hours.
3. Power factor penalty: industrial consumers with low pf (below about 0.8–0.85) pay extra, which encourages capacitor installation and reduces kVA demand.
4. Load building in off-peak/surplus periods: after load shedding ended (2018), the government promoted electric (induction) cooking, electric vehicles (lower customs duty and tax) and electric heating to use surplus energy, especially in the wet season and at night.
5. Dedicated and trunk-line feeders for industries, with separate tariffs, and control of large loads during peak hours.
6. Energy efficiency programmes: Nepal Energy Efficiency Programme (NEEP, with GIZ), energy audits of industries, and awareness campaigns on efficient appliances.
7. Distributed and renewable sources: solar water heaters, rooftop solar with net metering (net metering guideline of NEA), which reduce grid demand during the day.
8. Reduction of losses: smart and prepaid meters, anti-theft drives and network upgrading, which reduce wasted energy and peak demand.