Andhra Pradesh Energy Principal Secretary M Sahoo today clarified that Andhra Pradesh is facing fuel crisis that is prevailing in the state, and not power crisis. This was stated by Mr Sahoo, while addressing the inaugural session of 3-day seminar on ‘Commercial Aspects Of Managing Power Utilities in Southern States’ as a Chief Guest. As a matter of fact, except for eastern states, almost all the other states in the country are facing shortage of fuel as well as financial crisis, he pointed out. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has agreed to extend equity support of Rs 4,071 crore to Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) for its proposed 800 MW units at Vijayawada, Kothagudem and Krishnapatnam thermal power stations, he said.
At the same time, the government is also providing annual subsidy of a whopping Rs 5,000 crore to the power utilities for providing satisfactory power supply to consumers to the maximum extent. He said the Government of Andhra Pradesh is prepared to face any challenge in providing satisfactory power supply to all categories of consumers by strengthening power sector both financially and technically. Besides making all out efforts to optimize the generation, the power utilities, as a short term measure, have finalized tenders and entered into agreements with various power producers for procurement of power around 1300 MW per month till May 2013, he said. Under medium-term strategy, the DISCOMs are in the process of purchasing of around 2000 MW power from June, 2013 to June, 2016 by forecasting the future requirements \ of the electricity consumers, he said. UNI