AP utilities supplying power without cuts, says special chief secretary

Vijayawada: Energy special chief secretary, K. Vijayanand, has said there is no power cut in AP and the government has allowed power utilities to procure and supply electricity as per requirement from the open short-term competitive market at any cost, with a ceiling of '10 per unit.

Even in 2019, when the state bifurcation took place, the power generation capacity was high in the present AP. But the Bifurcation Act states that the existing power purchase agreements shall be applicable to both the states and the generated power shall be shared according to the existing PPA ratio, he noted.

Vijayanand explained that, according to this, 53.89 per cent share would go for Telangana state and 49.11 per cent for bifurcated AP, in all PPAs. According to the load on the date of bifurcation, AP state had a base load shortfall of 22 million units per day – ie, about 1000 megawatts. If it had been included in the bifurcation act, that the power generation stations belong to the state, the divided AP would have had a surplus and Telangana state would have had a deficit, he said.

The special CS pointed out that from the date of bifurcation of the state to the year 2017, the Telangana power companies owed AP about '7000 crore for the electricity supplied from AP. “Because of the distribution of electricity to Telangana as per the act, we do not have the requisite power resources.”

He said the contracted power generation capacity of the transmission companies in AP is 19,832mw as on March 2023. The APGENCO-thermal capacity is 3410mw, APGENCO-hydel 1773.6mw. The capacity for the joint  sector is 2456.824mw, CGS is 1978.628mw, IPPs (thermal) is 1895.55mw, IPPs (Gas) is 690.8mw and  NCE/RE capacity is  7626.94mw and the total capacity of AP is 19832.3mw.

“The government has allowed power utilities to procure and supply electricity as per requirement from the open short-term competitive market at any cost (ceiling '10/unit). Power utilities are doing their best to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the household, agricultural, commercial and industrial sectors without causing any trouble to the people.”

“There are no power cuts and power holidays in AP and the government is adhering to the decision of supplying power in a hassle-free manner,” he added.