Nepal, July 18 -- Many centuries ago, Buddha set off from his palace and was awakened by three great sights that would forever change the course of humanity.

We are not Buddha. But could we use the analogy of his great sights to change the course of Nepal's electricity sector?

Nepal's electricity sector is dominated by the narrative that there isn't enough domestic demand. It is this idea that justifies the export of electricity from Nepal to India, and now even Bangladesh. It is also used to justify large investments in power generation, transmission and distribution to support increased electricity exports.

But this isn't entirely true. On the contrary there are large unmet gaps in domestic electricity demand. The failure to meet thi...