During the past decade firewood has become increasingly scarce in Nepal due to rapid deforestation. As a result, the Government of Nepal has recognized the potential uses of biogas and has promoted low interest loan schemes to promote the installation of biogas plants. In order to encourage the poorest people to avail themselves of this technology, a special programme was launched under which, if the biogas plant was a community venture, half the cost was granted as a subsidy and half as a loan. This report is based on a survey of 30 biogas plants, of which 20 by individuals and 10 were owned by communities. It examines the end uses of biogas plants, the socioeconomic characteristics of biogas plant owners, problems of operation and maintenance, and presents a brief cost analysis of the biogas plants. Individual owners were primarily attracted by the plants potential for lighting and cooking, whereas community owned plants were primarily used for milling. The successful and profitable operation of a plant is found to depend upon: climate; availability of dung; motivation of owners; and after sales services provided by the manufacturers.