Attributing the power tariff hike to hiked coal and gas prices and increased gap between demand and supply, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday announced that his government has decided to reduce power tariff from Rs 2.80 to Rs 2.60 for domestic connections for 50 units to 100 units consumption and above 500 Watt.
Speaking to the media in the Secretariat, the Chief Minister said that the decision of the government would not only make the domestic consumers of this category not being affected by power tariff hike, but also reduce the power tariff to them from Rs 2.80 per Unit to Rs 2.60 per Unit. Stating that it would benefit 4,45,000 domestic consumers, he said that the decision would cause Rs 175-crore additional financial burden on the exchequer. The State government was also purchasing power from neighboring States at a cost of Rs 200 crores for industrial purposes, he added.
“With the State government’s decision, out of 244 lakh power connections, 180 lakh connections would either get the facility of cut in power bill or get the same bill without any hike. The power tariff will also come down for 47 lakh domestic connections”, he added. As per the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission, the power tariff hike would not affect 135 lakh connections that constitute 55 per cent of total connections of 243.6 lakhs.
Reminding that there was 40 MU gap between the demand and supply of the power, the Chief Minister said that the State government was bearing Rs 5,533-crore subsidy for domestic and agricultural power connections. Besides, the Industries Department was extending Rs 50-crore subsidy to industries, he added. He also pointed out that Gujarat government was extending only Rs 1,100-crore power subsidy, Karnataka government Rs 3,500-crore and Maharashtra government Rs 3,000-crore power subsidy. Compared to these States, Andhra Pradesh was bearing highest amount of power subsidy, he added.
The Chief Minister announced that a Group of Ministers (GoM) would be set up soon to study how to improve the power production to meet the demand.
Ministers Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, N Raghuveera Reddy, Dr Geetha Reddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy, D K Aruna, Kondru Murali Mohan and others were also present. (NSS)