TDP national president N. Chadrababu Naidu has asked the State government to restore the old billing system in the power sector and waive off the three months’ power bill in view of the COVID-19 crisis.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Mr. Naidu said the new dynamic billing system based on monthly power consumption would be burdensome to the people.
“The old system based on yearly average consumption is an appropriate method of deciding the slabs. The State government has introduced the new system that affects all walks of life,” Mr. Naidu said.
Stating that the YSRCP, in the run-up to the elections, had promised to bring down the power tariff, Mr. Naidu said people who had voted for ‘Fan’ (YSRCP election symbol) were not in a position to use it now as they were forced to cough up huge amounts following abnormal increase in tariff.
The was no truth in the government’s claims that it had increased the tariff of consumers who consumed more than 500 units, argued the TDP chief.
“The slab changes automatically even if one unit is consumed additionally. The tariff too will go up drastically,” he pointed out, adding, “BJP leader Kanna Lakshminarayana got an unusually higher bill of ₹20,000 against ₹11,521 previously. TDP leader Bonda Umamaheswara Rao got a bill of over ₹50,000 while his previous bill was around ₹9,000.”
‘TDP ushered in reforms’
The TDP had spearheaded the power sector reforms during the year 2000, he claimed.
“Regulatory Commission was established and T&D loses were brought down. The reforms had become a role model for others. Andhra Pradesh could overcome power shortage. The governments that had come to power later failed to maintain the momentum. The State, therefore, slipped into power deficit of 22.5 million units. After regaining power, the TDP government had streamlined the sector,” he claimed.
The State lost its credibility after it cancelled the PPAs. The YSRCP government did not heed the Centre advice not to cancel the PPAs, Mr. Naidu observed.
The High Court had to intervene and restrain the government from going ahead with its proposal, he added.
“Finally, the Centre has come up with one nation one Act,” he added.
