PMK founder Dr. S. Ramadoss on Monday demanded that the State government release a white paper periodically on how it plans to turn the electricity department, which is operating at a yearly loss of ₹13,000 crore and has a total debt of ₹1.59 lakh crore, profitable.
In a statement, he pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh government had decided to give back ₹126 crore to the consumers in the first quarter of the year by reducing the cost of electricity purchased from companies.
“The energy companies owned by Andhra Pradesh government have saved up to ₹126 crore in the last three months and ₹2,342 crore in the last two years. With the government fixing the cost of procurement at ₹4.55, the companies have procured power at ₹ 3.12/unit. This is the lowest price paid for a unit of electricity in the open market,” said Dr. Ramadoss and underlined that Tamil Nadu was buying a unit of electricity at ₹5.02 and sometimes at a maximum cost of ₹7/unit.
He said the news made one wonder when Tamil Nadu Electricity Board would rake in profits.
“In the last 15 years, the TNEB has been purchasing power from private companies at a high cost and have not implemented any power projects. Nobody can deny this,” he said.
Dr. Ramadoss said the State government’s announcement that it would generate 17,970 MW by setting up power plants in the next 10 years.
“The 5,700 MW power projects that have been in slumber can be finished in the next year. The rest can be implemented in the next 50 months.”