77,000 additional agriculture power connections soon

Vijayawada: Condemning the 'negative' reports on fixing smart meters for agricultural power connections, minister for energy Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy said that the state government was committed to supply free power to farmers and was planning to sanction additional 77,000 new agricultural power connections in addition to the existing 41,000 connections. He said that fixing of smart meters will be completed by March 2023 and subsidy will be deposited in farmers' accounts.

In a review meeting on agricultural power connections at the Secretariat on Thursday, the minister said that by implementing the smart meters in Srikakulam district, the government was able to save 30 per cent of subsidy. By using smart meters to agricultural connections in Srikakulam district, after conducting a study by officials on the power consumption, the government came to know that the farmers are using less units than the charges being paid by the government. With this the government is able to save 30 per cent subsidy. He said farmers are also coming forward to get meters fixed to their connections, adding that officials should complete fixing of 18 lakh smart meters by March 2023.

Ramachandra Reddy alleged that the TDP, Jana Sena and Left leaders were resorting to false campaign on smart meters for political mileage. Farmers can question the distribution companies for supply of quality power by paying the bills themselves using the money credited in their accounts by state government, he said.

Secretary for energy K Vijayanand, APTransco chairman and managing director B Sridhar, JMD Prithviraj, deputy secretary Kumar Reddy, discom CMDs K Santosh Rao and J Padmajanardhan were present.