Chief Minister’s principal adviser Ajeya Kallam on Saturday denied that power was being sold in the State to the industries at ₹9 per unit as alleged by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her party’s virtual rally on Friday.
Mr. Kallam also stated that no Central government utility was supplying power to Andhra Pradesh at ₹2.70 per unit.
Addressing the media in Hyderabad, Mr. Kallam said that industrial tariff in the State was ₹7.65 per unit, which was fixed in 2017 by the TDP government.
The present government did not increase the tariff even by one paisa, he said. “Rather, it is giving a subsidy of ₹1 per unit. In other words, Andhra Pradesh is supplying power to the industries at the rate of ₹6.65 per unit.”
In Telangana, the tariff stood at ₹7.60 per unit while it was ₹7.30 in Rajasthan, ₹7.25 in Maharashtra, ₹6.35 in Tamil Nadu and ₹7.20 in Karnataka.
‘Unfair practice’
Mr. Kallam said that due to the Central government’s policy, it had become mandatory for the States to purchase power at ₹9.44 per unit from NTPC plants. On an average, the NTPC was selling power at ₹4.50 to ₹5 per unit. “This apart, grid connectivity, and transmission and distribution charges are being levied,” he added.
The Andhra Pradesh government was paying ₹5.50 lakh per MW per month for drawing power from the Central transmission lines, which was higher than the pirce in the remaining States.
Just because the transmission lines were passing through A.P., the State was forced to pay more than others, he said. “A representation has been made by Andhra Pradesh to the Central government to correct the flaw, which, in fact, is an unfair practice, but the issue has not yet been sorted out,” Mr. Kallam observed.
‘PPAs faulty’
He further said the State government never went against national and international agreements, and it was to save the power utilities that the review of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) had been taken up. Due to the faulty wind and solar PPAs, the State incurred a loss of ₹3,500 crore, he said.
The power utilities, which had loans of ₹24,800 crore in 2014, were burdened to the tune of ₹70,000 crore presently, mainly due to the mismanagement of the previous regime, Mr. Kallam asserted.