Friday, January 17, 2014: Traders are seeing increase in sales of power back-up devices by over 50 percent in comparison to the summer season. The months November to February is the peak season in the inverter market as this is when power outages rise to the maximum level.
As stated on ekantipur.com “We are doing brisk business as people are turning to inverters to get temporary relief from the constant load-shedding. Moreover, demand from offices has also increased. Demand for inverters has gone up more than 50 percent in the past three months.” as per Rajendra Poudel, proprietor of City Lights located at Bhote Bahal.
Poudel informed that many household customers want inverters with a capacity of 150 VA to 400 VA and offices are seeking inverters with a capacity of more than 800 VA. The market offers a wide range of inverters from various brands including Sukam, Exide, Luminus, Kevin, Microtech and Genus among others. They are primarily imported from India and China.
Sipradi Energy, distributor of Luminus inverters in Nepal, began the company and has been getting a large number of enquiries for inverters. According to Alok Gupta, Deputy Marketing Manager, “since the increase in the load-shedding hours, inverters have been selling like hot cakes.” He further stated that they had targeted selling 8,000 to 10,000 units this month.
With the increase in sales of inverters, demand for electricians for installing the equipment has also risen. According to Raju Maharjan, an electrician, “I am receiving more than 10 calls daily from customers who want the device fitted in their homes. I normally do house wiring, but nowadays I am totally busy installing inverters, and I have had to put my wiring business on hold.”
Although load-shedding is going to come to an end at least in the summer season after the completion of a few big power projects like the 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi in the next few years, energy shortages will persist in the winter due to the absence of big storage-type projects.
