Andhra Pradesh: 24X7 power supply restored to industries

Vijayawada: The state government has withdrawn all restrictions on power supply to industries and restored 24x7 power supply. The Discoms submitted a proposal to APERC proposing to withdraw all restrictions on industries.

The APERC approved the proposal. It may be recalled that the state government had already lifted the power holiday to industries on May 9 and restored 70 per cent of the power supply. It had also restored 100 per cent supply to food processing industries, cold storages and aqua culture units.

According to the CMO, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wanted to provide reliable and quality power supply to industries and directed the power utilities a few days ago to take necessary measures to lift all restrictions on industries.

It may be noted that the power utilities issued a notification on April 7 imposing restrictions on power supply to industries due to severe shortage of coal availability in the country.

Representatives of various industries have thanked the state government for its efforts to withdraw restrictions on industries even as there has been no improvement in the coal availability in the country.

Meanwhile, the government had entered into an MoU with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to procure power to the tune of 7,000 MW at a rate of Rs 2.49 per unit to ensure power supply to the agriculture sector for the next 25 years. The government is also taking steps to establish integrated pumped hydro storage power plants with capacity of 33,240 MW with an objective to ensure adequate power supply in the state keeping the present coal crisis across the country in mind.