Andhra Pradesh: Govt bid to burden people with power tariffs decried

Vijayawada: Taking strong exception to the proposals to levy Rs 9,222 crore on people in the name of true-up charges, Rs 887 crore in the name of slab change and Rs 12,000 crore in the name of increase in development charge, fixed charge, and one-metre-one house system, Communist Party of India (Marxist) appealed to the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) to rectify the anomalies instead of allowing the government to burden people.

Addressing a virtual public hearing of APERC here on Monday, CPM leader Ch Babu Rao said that as per the latest proposals on the change of slabs, the poor people, who consume less than 50 units per month would be burdened by 38 per cent; who consume less than 75 per cent would be burdened by 26 per cent; who consume less than 100 units would be burdened by 54 per cent; and who consume less than 200 units would be burdened by 45 per cent.

These proposals would burden the poor people giving relief to the rich people, he pointed out.

Since the power generation expenditure is coming down throughout the world and power purchase rates are also coming down, the power tariff should come down, he noted. Babu Rao demanded total abolition of true-up charge system and withdraw the proposal to enhance power tariff.

The State Cabinet's decision to hand over the Damodaram Sanjivaiah thermal power station at Krishnapatnam to a private person on lease for 25 years is nothing but suicidal, he said.

Referring to the decision to purchase solar power from Adani Company for 25 years is detrimental to the interest of the State, he pointed out recalling that the government had announced earlier that it would cancel the agreements signed by the previous government to purchase power from private companies.

On the revenue deficit of the Electricity department, Babu Rao said that the government failed to pay the subsidies, huge electricity bill arrears from various government departments, halting of power generation in the public sector plants and purchasing power from private companies are some of the reasons for the losses.

CPM activists staged a protest at the public hearing holding placards.