Kathmandu, June 5 -- Nepal's energy sector, burgeoning due to private sector investment, faces shocks from a policy announced in the new budget-take and pay.

The Independent Power Producers Association (IPPAN), the umbrella organisation of private investors in Nepal's energy sector, has found itself in an awkward situation after both Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Bishnu Paudel and Energy Minister Dipak Khadka expressed their ignorance on how this new policy shift came about in the budget speech.

A team of IPPAN, led by its president Ganesh Karki, went to meet both ministers but they expressed their ignorance on how the policy was announced in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

At a time when the private sector is...