VIJAYAWADA: The board of directors of the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APTRANSCO) has resolved to continue procurement of cost-effective power, which has so far helped save Rs 700 crore in spot power purchases at an average price of Rs 1.63 to Rs 2.80 per unit.
As power procurement accounts for 75 per cent of expenditure of power sector, the officials said that cost-effective power purchase would also bring down the cost of service, which has already come down by 10 per cent year-on-year. The board of directors, which met in the Secretariat on Friday, said minimising power purchase costs was a financially viable model for the cashstrapped and debt-ridden distribution companies (discoms).
The board expressed satisfaction over the measures taken in the last one year to revive and strengthen utilities, reduce unnecessary expenditure, procure power at cheaper rates and implement state government’s schemes such as free power for agriculture more effectively.
Energy secretary Srikant Nagulapalli emphasised the need to intensify the efforts towards fulfilling the objective of the government to make the State as role model for cheap power. The officials said that though several states started to procure more power from power exchanges since April, Andhra Pradesh was far ahead in getting benefits of cheap power.
“The state has saved above Rs 700 crore with spot purchasing of power at an average price of Rs 1.63 to Rs 2.80 per unit. The utilities also saved another Rs 4783.23 crore by reducing cost of service from Rs 48,110.79 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 43,327.56 crore in FY2019-20,” they said in a statement.
Principal Secretary Finance SS Rawat has said that the state government was providing a substantial subsidy to power sector to the tune of Rs 11,311.7 crore.
Decision hailed
Energy secretary Nagulapalli Srikant appreciated APTRANSCO joint MD KVN Chakradhar Babu for the latter’s decision to pursue specialised MBA in power management from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies to effectively manage the sector