Govt to provide electric stoves to 3.3 million households by 2030

KATHMANDU: In an effort to promote clean energy technology in cooking, the government has prepared a national action plan that envisages providing electric stoves to 3.3 million households by 2030.  Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI) came up with the draft of the action plan after a series of consultations with relevant stakeholders.

Under the action plan, the government has set a plan to arrange electric stops for 32 lakh 84 thousand householders including one million households through Green Climate Fund. The action plan has been divided into three phases- short-term plan (up to 2023), mid-term plan (up to 2026), and long-term plan ( up to 2030) to provide the targeted households with access to clean energy technology.

“We have prepared a draft of the plan after consultation with relevant stakeholders and we are discussing it with the MoEWRI soon to finalize it,” said Dr. Madhusudhan Adhikari, Executive Director of the AEPC. “We want to commence the implementation of the plan from 2023.”

Purushottam Ghimire, former secretary, however, said implementation of the plan is challenging as provinces are lacking the necessary infrastructure for distributing clean energy technology. As per AEPC’s estimation, a total of Rs 16.44 billion will be required to implement the plan excluding the amount in the form of tax rebate amount, subsidy, local government’s annual budget, and electricity bill rebate. Hence, the plan estimated that the total cost of the program will reach Rs 53.35 billion. 

To ensure effective implementation of the plan, a committee comprising representatives from National Planning Commission, Province Policy and Plan Commission, and concerned local government has been proposed.  A total of 68 percent of households use bio-fuel and conventional stops to cook foods. The 15^th Plan of the government has envisaged distributing one million electric stops, and provide 2 lakh households with bio-gas and producing 20 thousand tons of brisket and pellet.