TS govt to adopt new power policy

Hyderabad: The state government has decided to dig into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of power from power generation companies and the excess payments made to the companies during the BRS regime before a new power policy was announced.

The decision to review the previous power purchase agreements (PPAs) was taken up at a high-level meeting Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had with the officials at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

The Chief Minister also instructed the TSGENCO and TSTRANSCO officials to come out with new proposals to increase the installed power generation and the completion of the ongoing power plant works in the new power policy which is likely to be adopted in the budget session of the Assembly soon.

The CM decided to implement a comprehensive power policy in the state after conducting a detailed study of the existing power policies adopted by various state governments.

Revanth Reddy instructed the officials to conduct a comprehensive study and submit a detailed report regarding the agreements entered by the electricity companies and the Electricity Regulatory Council (ERC) from 2014 to date with all details regarding agreements, the rates at which they were purchased and details of year-wise agreements entered by the discoms, etc.

The Chief Minister also asked the officials to list the reasons behind entering into agreements by paying excess amount for power supply by the BRS government.

He also wanted to know the relevant rules under which the power purchase at higher rates was done.

He instructed the authorities to purchase power from the companies which supply at low price in the open market. He was of the view that difficulties and problems in power purchase was due to non-formulation of a comprehensive electricity policy till date. The government would also discuss with energy experts, people’s representatives from all parties on the proposed new power policy.

The meeting also discussed the issues like power consumption in the state, 24-hour uninterrupted power supply, power generation by the power companies, measures for new power generation units, supply of 200 free units under Griha Jyoti scheme. The officials briefed the CM about the installed capacity of power generation in the state, power purchases from various companies, performance of the DISCOMS and the financial situation.