VIJAYAWADA: In order to overcome power problems, Discoms have opted for short-term procurement of power through bilateral or exchange depending on the requirement and situation on the day ahead, a week ahead, or a month ahead basis, said Minister for Energy Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, in a written reply to a question raised by TDP MLAs Payyavula Keshav, Anagani Satya Prasad and Ashok Bendalam on Thursday in the State Assembly.
Though there was no discussion during the Question Hour, the answers were deemed to be tabled. In his written reply, he asserted that there were no unofficial power cuts in the State. The short-term procurement will enable Discoms get power in a competitive manner since intrastate STOA charges are offset, bidding can be carried out at base price and thereby they tend to gain by means of cost comparison of market power as and when foreseeing the shortage.
With regard to power produced through various means, the minister said compared to 3,822 MU of power generated in 2020-21, 3,460 MU was produced up to February this fiscal. APGenco and APPDCL produced 19,649 MU of thermal power up to February this fiscal, compared to 16,430 MU in 2020-21.
Central Generating Stations produced 11,214 MU up to February as against 112,486 MU in last fiscal. IPPs produced 1,741 MU up to February as against 3,822 MU in 2020-21. In 2020-21, 6,492 MU of wind power and 6,976 MU of solar sower was produced.
In the current fiscal, 6,700 MU of wind power and 6,753 MU of solar power was produced up to February. In 2020-21, 8,649.08 MU of power was purchased at a weighted average unit rate of `3.57 as against 3,082.02 MU purchased at an average unit rate of `4.02 in 2019-20, the Energy Minister explained.