AP moves to achieve power-cut free milestone

Hyderabad, July 31 (INN): Andhra Pradesh government is moving towards achieving “zero- power cuts” milestone.

In a meeting with the AP Power Secretary, APTransco CMD and other officials, Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said that the power deficit in the state has been brought down from 22 million units per day to zero during the first week of June 2014. The state government will implement the “power for all” programme in Andhra Pradesh October 2, 2014. This initiative will ensure 24×7 power supply to all domestic, commercial and industrial consumers.

The Chief Minister also said farmers will be provided nine hours of power supply from the current seven hours in a phased manner.

While AP Discoms have set a procurement target of 2000 MW from June 2015 to May 2016 and long-term procurement of 2000 MW of power. The state government has also allowed discoms to produce 1000 MW Solar Power through competitive bidding.

With a view to focus on solar energy, the AP Government also wants to set up solar parks with an aggregated capacity of 1300MW in Guntur and Anantapur districts in collaboration with the Centre. The Chief Minister also said about 2551 hamlets will soon be electrified.

The state government has also decided to expedite the construction of Polavaram Hydro Electric Project (960 MW) by APGenco. The Chief Minister also said that the energy audit be taken up to each DTR level and efforts be made to provide cost-effective power to consumers.

The Chief Minister also ordered that the bio-plantations be undertaken to ensure additional income to farmers.

He said special focus should be given to consumers by strict implementation of Citizen Charter and IVRS-based system to obtain feedback from consumers. The government said smart metering will also be implemented soon. Chandrababu Naidu said Andhra Pradesh should become a model state in the power sector within one year.