Despite flash floods damaging hydropower projects and disrupting electricity evacuation in Nepal in August, the country exported electricity worth over Rs 725 crore to India in the two months that followed, data provided by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) shows.Between August 27, a day after the floods hit Nepal, and October 27, the country exported around 1,262 million units (MU) of electricity to India, the NEA data showed. This was equivalent to nearly a third of the electricity Nepal exported to India during the financial year 2025-26.The continued exports came despite apprehensions among Indian government officials about possible disruptions to electricity supplies from Nepal, given the damage to several hydropower plants, including the 14-MW Devighat hydropower plant, which supplies electricity to India.In September, the Union Ministry of Power had also approved the Nepal government’s request for early imports of electricity from India, saying that the “floods have caused significant damage to hydropower infrastructure in Nepal, reducing its domestic power generation capacity and creating an additional requirement for electricity.”How, then, was Nepal able to sustain electricity exports to India?Seasonal surplus and electricity tradeNepal exports electricity primarily to two countries — India and Bangladesh, with India accounting for the bulk of its exports. Electricity exports to Bangladesh began in November 2024, following a tripartite agreement among the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India’s state-owned NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN).Electricity trade between Nepal and India is seasonal, with Nepal exporting surplus power to India during the monsoon and importing electricity during the dry winter months when domestic hydropower generation declines.Story continues below this adAlso Read | Where Nepal’s $20 million flood relief money is coming from: the loss and damage fund’s first payoutAs per the annual report of NEA, Nepal had a total available energy of 18,624 MU in 2025-26. Out of total available energy 12,394 MU has been utilized in Nepal, 3,817 MU and 148 MU was exported to India and Bangladesh, respectively.Similarly, Nepal had 15,641 MU of available energy in 2024-25, of which 11,343 MU was consumed domestically and 2,380 MU was exported to India.This seasonal surplus has contributed to a steady rise in Nepal’s earnings from electricity exports. Its earnings from electricity exports increased from Nepalese Rupee (NPR) 17.47 billion in 2024-25 to NPR 29.3 billion in 2025-26.Surplus or low load?Achyut Babu Ghimire, spokesperson for the NEA, attributed this sustained electricity supply despite the damage caused by the floods to this surplus generation. He said Nepal had applied to Indian authorities for approval to export electricity from additional power projects within a week of the floods on August 26.Story continues below this ad“We have a surplus of electricity during the monsoon, which is why we were able to continue supplying power to India,” Ghimire told The Indian Express.Also Read | From Nepal to India, how AI is improving disaster managementHowever, Indian government officials believe the sustained electricity supplies from Nepal may, in part, be explained by a decline in domestic demand following the floods. The damage to homes, infrastructure and transmission networks may have reduced electricity consumption in the affected areas, leaving more power available for export.The scale of the damage to Nepal’s power infrastructure was significant. Nepal’s Energy Ministry had said in an earlier statement that the floods had affected 13 hydropower plants, including several under-construction projects, as well as a solar power plant.Ghimire said the floods knocked around 430 MW of capacity out of the system due to damage to transmission lines, which disrupted the evacuation of electricity.Story continues below this adOf this, around 74 MW of hydropower capacity was directly damaged by the floods. Export approved three plants with total capacity of 60 MW were damaged, of which 55 MW capacity was approved by India’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for export to India, he added.Also Read | Nepal floods: The red flags in dam-building in the HimalayasAt least one hydropower plant — 14-MW Devighat hydropower plant — that supplies electricity to India was among the power plants affected by the floods, The Indian Express had earlier reported.Two other hydroelectric plants, Chilime and Trisuli, which supply electricity to Bangladesh, had also been affected during the floods.Ghimire said the country has also resumed supply to Bangladesh last week.Story continues below this adNepal has a total installed hydropower capacity of around 4,200 MW, of which approximately 3,750 MW capacity is currently operational.