Jagan condemns false propaganda on Power Purchase Agreements

Amaravati: Brushing aside criticism on review of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed by the TDP government, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the move to renegotiate PPAs was aimed at passing on the benefits to the poor through welfare schemes.

Intervening during the discussion on the bill to provide reservations to locals in jobs in Assembly on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said there was lot of false propaganda going on about the PPAs which have no substance or basis.

What we are planning is to bring in power at a competitive rate and if we buy power at a higher rate and that becomes the tariff, then industries will shy away from buying such power paying a premium, he claimed.

He said that is the reason why they were trying to renegotiate the PPAs, so that the difference in price can be passed on to the poor through various welfare measures, he said.

On the other hand, finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, in a press release said that, the distress in the state's energy sector was because of the misrule of the TDP government.

He said owing to exorbitant energy purchase costs, the P&L of APSPDCL shows that the cost for energy purchase was higher than the utilities' revenues from operations, he said.

"It is appalling to see Naidu's false and unabashed claims of good energy sector administration, despite his government's inability to clear huge pending dues to generators of Rs 18,375 crore. Owing to the purchase of renewable energy beyond the RPPO mandate, the loss to the state exchequer is to the tune of Rs 436 crore in 2016-17, Rs. 924 crore in 2017-18 and Rs. 1,293 crore in 2018-19. This is owing to favoritism and rampant corruption prevalent during those years," finance minister blamed.