With state power utilities imposing a load relief of up to 30 per cent, industries in Andhra Pradesh have been given the open access facility to fend for themselves. Power utilities had to impose load relief on industries due to the supply-demand mismatch, aggravated by growing consumption and dip in gas and hydel generation.
According to reports, over 30 industrial units have already started using the open access route to meet their power demand while a similar number of HT consumers have applied for the facility during the current summer.
Making a statement on the floor of the Assembly on Tuesday, IT minister Ponnala Laxmaiah said the power demand in the state grew 14 per cent last month to 81,320 million units (mu) from 71,301 mu in the same month last year owing to continuous dry spells leading to increased demand from agriculture and domestic households.
Under open access, companies can directly buy power from a third party to meet the energy needs without imposing cross subsidy surcharge.
A loss of 30 mu a day due to reduced generation of around 1,272 Mw in gas-based power projects and a decline in hydel generation have increased the pressure on the supply situation while the purchase of power from outside the state is limited due to corridor constraints, the minister said.
Opposition parties led by Telugu Desam, however, accused the government of mishandling the power sector leading to the deficit situation. It said power cuts being imposed in the state were to the tune of 40 per cent of the total demand as the power utilities were able to supply only about 9,000 Mw a day as against the total requirement of 14,000 Mw.
Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu also questioned the government's intentions behind its decision to enter into long-term contracts to buy 2,000 Mw of power for the next 30 years beginning 2016 apart from entering into short and medium term contracts for procuring 2,000 Mw till 2016.
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Refuting the Opposition charges, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said this was done as part of advance planning to meet the future demand supplementing the proposed capacity addition of over 15,000 Mw.
According to the minister, the industrial consumption in the next financial year is expected to touch 26,000 mu as compared with 22,000 mu in the current year while domestic and agriculture consumption stood at 14,294 and 16,716 mu respectively in the same period.