Opposition members in the Legislative Council on Friday expressed concern over the impending power tariff hike in view of the purchase of power at a higher cost.
Congress member Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy raised the issue during the Question Hour and said the government should review the power purchase agreements as it was buying power from private companies at a higher cost. He also complained of frequent power breakdown and the declining Plant Load Factor.
Leader of Opposition Mohd Ali Shabbir said the government had purchased 39,000 million units, three times more than its generated capacity in 2015-16. It would burden the two discoms which would eventually pass on the burden to consumers. The power tariff had already been increased twice so far, he said.
MIM member Syed Jaffrey said the government had already increased power tariff twice resulting in a burden of Rs.2,000 crore. There were reports of the government giving exemption from power-cut to those with consumption up to 50 units from the present limit of 100 units.
Minister Jagdish Reddy said as there was no north-south corridor to purchase power from northern States and the PPAs were made when the State was in a crisis, the PPAs were at a fixed price. He said the government had bought more power as the Chief Minister wanted to meet the demand from all sectors, including nine-hour power supply to the farm sector.
