Nepal, Oct. 25 -- On September 27, landslides damaged pylons on the 220kV Kaligandaki corridor and forced 12 hydropower plants, which generated 358.2 MW of power, to shut down. A month earlier, the Bhotekoshi flood had cut off 432.1 MW along the Trishuli corridor. With the grid about 1,000 MW short, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) cut roughly 300 MW of supply to factories from Birgunj to Butwal. Industry was losing power again, eight years after the NEA declared the country free of load-shedding.

Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha, the NEA's managing director, has ruled out load-shedding this winter. That promise rests on India. The NEA plans to import 1,154 MW, almost half the expected winter peak of about 2,300 MW, against a deficit of more...