YSRCP Floor Leader in the Lok Sabha P.V. Midhun Reddy has urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman not to take cognisance of the allegations of steep hike in power tariff levelled by the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh.
Seeking to clear the air, Mr. Mithun Reddy said, “Though the State is procuring power from the NTPC and the SECI at a lower price of ₹2.70 per kWh , there are additional charges incurred towards transmission and distribution losses, and transmission and distribution costs.”
Stating that the Average Cost of Supply of Power (ACOS), as approved by the A.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission, was ₹6.87 per KWh for 2020-21, Mr. Mithun Reddy attributed the high cost of power to the State being forced to procure power at an exorbitant cost of ₹9.44 per kWh from the NTPC Kudgi and the ₹5.5 lakh per MW per month being charged by the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL).
Though the State government took the issue to the notice of the Centre, there was no respite, he said, and added that the annual burden on account of PGCIL charges was about ₹1,700 crore.
Burden on Discoms
Reiterating that the State government had inherited troubled Discoms with unpaid dues of ₹20,000 crore and accumulated losses of ₹27,000 crore, Mr. Reddy said the State government was trying to revive the power sector. The outstanding debt of all the corporations in the energy sector was ₹70,000 crore, he added.
In spite of the losses, the government was able to attract investors such as Greenko, which proposed to set up 550 MW wind power generation project, 1,000 MW solar energy plant and 1,680 MW reverse pumping project, displaying increasing investor confidence in the government.
