Andhra Pradesh has achieved 100 per cent household electrification by June 8 and the State is the third after Gujarat and Punjab in the country to reach the milestone, Union Minister of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal has said.
“Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu explained the digital connectivity and 100 per cent electrification in the State. I compliment Mr. Naidu and the people for the achievement,” said Mr. Goyal at a press conference here on Friday. The Chief Minister, the Union Minister, and the officials exchanged copies of the MoU signed under the ‘Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana’ (Uday) to enable the State government to take over the debt of Discoms amounting to Rs.11,000 crore.
Earlier, the Union Minister, along with the Chief Minister, launched smart meters and participated in a review meeting on the power sector with officials concerned here.
Mr. Goyal said that smart meters would help curb power pilferage, give exact data, and reduce transmission and distribution losses. Every consumer would be provided smart meter in the State soon, he said. Similarly, energy efficient agricultural pumps would be distributed to farmers in the State. In all, 15 lakh pumps would be rolled out. Of them, 5 lakh pumps would be distributed in the next one year. “The Centre will fund energy efficient agricultural pump sets,” he said.
“The State, which once faced power shortage, is now power surplus. It is no mean achievement,” the Chief Minister said.
