VIJAYAWADA: Reminding that the power tariff was not increased in the past three years, Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy stated that the hike was a result of the poor decisions taken by the previous TDP regime, besides increasing expenditure.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, he said the power tariff remained unchanged since the formation of the YSRC government in 2019 and condemned the Opposition’s false propaganda against the tariff hike.
He said they had to increase electricity charges slightly without burdening the poor, due to the poor decisions taken by former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The previous TDP regime left a pile of debts with erratic power purchases, whereas the present government has been paying off all those debts, he maintained. Going into the details, Sajjala said Naidu left a debt of about Rs 85,000 crore, including the pending true-up charges, and even resorted to irregular PPAs making the State debt-ridden. He recalled that the power tariff was hiked thrice during the TDP regime despite having surplus energy supplies.
Refuting the Opposition’s allegation that the people were burdened with over Rs 47,000 crore with the power tariff hike, he asked TDP leaders to speak with proof and affirmed that the government is accountable for every rupee it spends.
He said no government wants to burden the people. In unavoidable circumstances to pay off the debts, the government had to increase the power tariff nominally, he said.