The per capita power consumption in the State in 2020-21 was 2,012 units, 73% higher than the national average of 1,161 units.
The State has initiated several steps to strengthen power sector and succeeded in bringing down the transmission and distribution losses significantly, Energy Minister G. Jagdish Reddy told the Legislative Assembly.
Replying to queries during the Question Hour on Monday, the Minister said Telangana is the only State in the country supplying 24x7 free power to 26.24 lakh farmers. The government provided a subsidy of ₹25,467 crore since the State formation for providing free power to the farm sector.
Several steps including staggering of loads, increase in generation, entering into short term power purchase agreements, purchase from power exchange and reduction in transmission and distribution losses were initiated to strengthen the power sector. The T&D system was strengthened by setting up 17 400KV substations, 220 KV substations (46), 132 KV substations (68) and 33/11 KV substations (1,007) with an investment of ₹34,970 crore.
The State’s contracted capacity increased from 7,778 MW at the time of its formation to 17,182 MW at present and the State could meet a peak demand of 13,688 MW and record consumption on a single day of 283.38 million units in the process. The transmission losses in Telangana at 2.47% were one of the lowest in the country while the State maintained highest transmission availability of 99.98%. The transmission and distribution losses came down from 16.06% at the time of Telangana formation to 11.46% as of now.
After the formation of the State, 10,791 circuit km of lines had been added and 22,984 MVA of transmission capacity had been augmented at the EHT level. In addition, the State had one of the highest installed capacity of solar power at 4,307 MW (against 74 MW at the time of State formation), taking the total renewable capacity to 4,727 MW.
