The energy department has withdrawn the free power supply to Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medicine located at Prasanthi Gram in Anantapur district. It has also levied a charge of 30 paisa per unit of power consumed by the institute. Free power was offered to the institute under the subsidised power tariff scheme.

The state government has directed the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board, under the Electricity Supply Act, 1978, to levy the normal tariff on the institute from January 2009 onwards. Stating that it is purchasing costly power from various generators for distribution to various consumers, the central discom had requested the state government to allow the discom to recover the same from the institute as per the tariff order. The order issued on Saturday states, “Considering the argument of the discom that power purchase costs alone amount to 86 per cent of the sales and that the cost of purchasing power needs to be passed on, the state government has agreed to withdraw the scheme for subsidised power to the institute.”