Energy developers have sent an ‘SMS’ simultaneously to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, Energy Minister Deepak Khadka, and Nepal Electricity Authority Managing Director Hitendra Dev Shakya, urging the government to withdraw the ‘Take and Pay’ provision introduced in the budget regarding the power purchase agreement.

As part of their previously announced protest programs, energy entrepreneurs sent an SMS at exactly 10 a.m. on Saturday to Prime Minister Oli, Finance Minister Paudel, Energy Minister Khadka, and Nepal Electricity Authority Managing Director Shakya, urging them to withdraw the ‘Take and Pay’ provision.

Stating that the ‘Take and Pay’ PPA provision has been introduced in a way that would halt private sector investment in the energy sector, they mentioned in the SMS: “Abolish the ‘Take and Pay’ PPA that will eliminate the private sector in energy, cause load-shedding, drown investors, and collapse the country’s economy.”

Since the government announced in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 29 that power purchase agreements (PPAs) for run-of-river (ROR) hydropower projects to be developed by the private sector would be done only under the ‘Take and Pay’ concept, energy entrepreneurs have strongly opposed the decision and have been staging phased protests since July 20.

Mohan Kumar Dangi, Acting President of the umbrella organization of energy producers—Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) - and Coordinator of the IPPAN Protest Committee, stated that the SMS was sent simultaneously to pressure the government to withdraw the ‘Take and Pay’ provision.

On the first day of the protest, the committee led by Dangi met with Prime Minister Oli and submitted a memorandum. On the third day of the protest, June 22, at 11 a.m., there is a scheduled program where everyone will post messages simultaneously on social media, urging the removal of the ‘Take and Pay’ PPA to exert pressure.

Source: Kantipur