Minister admits of purchasing power at higher cost
Hyderabad: Energy Minister Jagadish Reddy has admitted that the Telangana State has been purchasing power at the higher price inspite of Central Government and other private power generators supplying power at cheaper rate.
The minister said that there was acute shortage of power at the time of formation of Telangana State and the farming and industrial sectors were suffering. At that stage, he said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has taken a decision to purchase power from any part of India including from Chhattisgarh and also undergone agreement with the private power generators. Because of those agreements and commitment, the state is purchasing power at higher price compared to today's situation.
He said non-government sources from where power is being purchased are Sembcorp Energy India which is supplying power at Rs. 4.15 per unit and Solar Developers. Tenders of 2014, 2015 and 2016 were between Rs. 4.66 per unit to Rs. 6.45 per unit. However, he assured that once the agreement with private parties is over, the cost will come down and also after the power projects which are under construction would be completed.
He further said that as part of Central Government's policy to encourage Solar Energy, Telangana State, which was having only 100 MW capacity of Solar Power, has increased its capacity to more than 3,200 MW so far.
Minister assures to hold meeting with city MLAs on interrupted power supply
The Energy Minister has reacted to Hyderabad City MLAs G. Kishan Reddy and others who complained of regular power cuts in the city including 4-6 hours shutdown in a day at some places. He said that the State has met a peak demand of 10,284 MW on March 8 this year as against the peak demand of 5,661 MW met on June 6, 2014 in 2014. He was this could be done because of new sub-stations and lines commissioned after the formation of the State. He has agreed to convene the meeting of city MLAs with the officials to solve the power cut problem in the city.