Centre surrenders 125 MW coal power allocated to AP

Vijayawada: The Union Ministry of Power (MoP) has approved the request of Andhra Pradesh government to surrender 125 MW coal power that was allocated to AP Discoms from NTPC. The Discoms will save Rs 191.6 crore per annum on fixed costs with the decision of Ministry of Power.

In a letter addressed to Central Electricity Authority (CEA) on October 13, the MoP mentioned that it was decided to revert the 125 MW coal power keeping in view the request from government of Andhra Pradesh. The power was allocated to AP Discoms on July 5, 2017 from coal-based stations of NTPC for bundling with solar power under National Solar Mission.

On receiving the communication on CEA, the state energy department officials welcomed the decision of MoP and felt that it would help to the efforts of AP Government to minimize power procuring costs and reduce unwanted financial burden on Discoms.

"The decision of MoP will benefit Discoms which could save Rs 191.6 crore per annum on fixed costs," energy secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said in a press release on Thursday.

The energy secretary has thanked the Secretary, Ministry of Power, GoI, Sanjiv Nandan Sahai for his quick action to help the state of AP in this regard.

The AP government is exploring ways to reduce power procuring costs and giving high priority for cost effective power. The measures being taken by power utilities for the last one year to revive and strengthen utilities, reduce unnecessary expenditure by procuring power at cheaper rates are yielding encouraging results.