The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, has justified the power tariff hike for 2012-13 stating this was necessary given the increase in cost of fuel and generation and supply to consumers.

Yet, the Government has ensured that the hike does not touch nearly 55 per cent of the consumers, he said.

Addressing a press conference along with Cabinet colleagues, the Chief Minister said the hike was initiated after nearly nine years. From 2003, the cost of coal has gone up by 103 per cent, gas price rate is up 93 per cent and the overall cost to serve is now Rs 4.42/unit versus Rs 3.18/unit.

He said the Government has ensured consumers with less than 500 watts per month demand, that is lower than 100 units, will not be impacted by new tariff structure. Additional subsidy of Rs 175 crore is being extended.

The Chief Minister said the State has provided for Rs 5,533 crore towards subsidy. This is the highest compared with Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Average demand

Referring to the power supply situation, Mr Reddy said the average demand now is 296 million units a day against average supply of 254 MUs, with the gap of 42 MUs.

The State is bearing the additional cost of Rs 200 crore to help small-scale industriesfaced with three-day power cuts.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

The Chief Minister said the Group of Ministers will be constituted to study the renewable energy sector and see how the State could encourage development of solar and wind energy farms. The State has potential for 7,000 MW of wind energy projects, he said.

NTPC Simhadri 500 MW would be supplied to the State for three months and Jhajjar 230 MW will help meet additional power supplies. However, the demand from 30-lakh agriculture pump sets will dip once farm operations are completed, he said.

>vrishi@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics