So reading or doing precision work is impossible after six o'clock in the evening. In order to utilize waterpower for electricity supply, a generator is required, which costs 2,500 marks in Nepal. Although the state contributes half of this sum, the balance is still too much for many villages or owners of ghattas to be able to afford. And electrification only makes sense where the houses of the farmers stand close together. In Dhungkharka, they lie far apart.
Some huts are in the valley, while others stand on the mountain ridge.
Establishing a cable network would swallow up further sums. In Talamarang, in the District of Sindhupalchowk, one ghatta owner has had a much better idea. He uses his generator during the night to charge batteries that he hires out to hotels along the hiking path close by. Jit Bahadur is not considering a similar application yet. But the metal turbine has certainly long paid its way.