KATHMANDU, Jan 17: The government has waived the demand charge of the electricity consumption for manufacturing industries hit hard by COVID-19 during the lockdown period.

A meeting chaired by Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel on Sunday took a decision to give relief to the businesses affected by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demand charges are additional fees that the state-owned power utility charges the non-residential or commercial customers for ensuring constant supply of electricity. These fees usually amount to a substantial amount of money that businesses must pay on monthly electricity bills.

The government in its budget for the current fiscal year had announced a complete waiver on the demand charge of the prescribed period for the manufacturing businesses. The budget also announced a 50 percent discount on the electricity bills during the off-peak-hour use by the manufacturing sector.