KATHMANDU, March 8: Nepalis have reduced consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the current fiscal year by an average of 150,000 cylinders per month, perhaps due to an increasing number of households switching to using electric devices for cooking.
The records of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) show that the domestic consumption of LPG declined by a notable amount in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. Pushkar Karki, deputy spokesperson of the NOC, said the country downsized consumption by 1.1 million cylinders of cooking gas during the review period this year compared to the same period in the last fiscal year.
Expiry date of LPG cylinders lacks monitoring
According to the NOC, the LPG consumption in the review period last year was 21.82 million cylinders, which came down to 20.72 million cylinders this year. Karki said the decline in LPG use started mainly after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out last year.
Amid the soaring prices of petroleum products, people have been found switching to electricity as an alternative means. According to Karki, the trend has appeared also as the government provides subsidies on purchase of electric cookers.
Traders however said that the decline in LPG consumption was also due to the ongoing economic slowdown. A study report of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry a few months ago showed that the business of hotels and restaurants was down by around 20 percent due to the economic recession.
The NOC has also received respite by the downfall in business of cooking gas as the state-owned monopoly has been sustaining loss of over Rs 300 per cylinder of cooking gas during the period.
Based on the decline in business of the cooking gas in the review period, the NOC saved Rs 50.09 million per month. At present, the projected loss of NOC in the LPG business has soared to Rs 635.50 per cylinder.
