Vijayawada: Congress holds both previous, present govts responsible

Vijayawada: Holding the previous and the present State governments squarely responsible for the power crisis in the State, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Monday criticised the State government for purchasing power at higher price though there is possibility to buy at lower price only for the same of commission.

APCC president Dr Sake Sailajanath in a statement released from Andhra Ratna Bhavan here said that the arrears of the power sector which were at Rs 33,500 crore in 2014 had gone up to Rs 70,250 crore during the TDP regime due to the purchase of power at higher price and corruption.

He said that the erstwhile TDP government had entered into power purchase agreements with private solar and wind power generating companies to purchase power at the rate from Rs 5.25 to Rs. 5.90 for the next 25 years. As a result, there was unbearable burden on the Discoms.

In order to compensate the loss of those years, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission has decided to cover the loss of those years by collecting true-up charges from the consumers.

Due to the failure of the State government to pay the subsidy amount to the Discoms, the Discoms were facing financial crisis. Moreover, the thermal power stations are facing difficulty to pay interest on Rs 20,000 crore loans taken by the Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation.

The AP Genco is also facing financial problems due to the poor recovery of bills. Moreover, the power consumption has gone up by 20 per cent in the State which is 8 per cent more than before the pandemic.

The power could be purchased at Rs 3.12 per unit but the State government is buying at the rate of Rs 11 only for the sake of commissions and the burden was passed on to people.

He opined that had the government power stations generated enough power, there would be no need to purchase power and the State would be in a position to sell power to neighbouring States.

He demanded that the State government set things right immediately by focusing on the power sector.