Andhra Pradesh Energy Minister Gottipati Ravi Kumar said on Wednesday (June 24, 2026) that the department gave top priority to address the issue of the power utilities’ “legacy losses” amounting to ₹1,29,503 crore, and held the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government responsible for the financial crisis in which the DISCOMs were mired.
The so-called “review” and cancellation of the long-term renewable Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in 2019-24 caused a major disruption in the power sector, the impact of which was still being felt, he said while addressing the media at the Secretariat.
Similarly, he said the increase in power tariffs during the YSRCP regime had imposed a huge burden on the consumers.
Mr. Ravi Kumar said purchasing electricity from the open market at higher prices was the order of the day during 2019-24 and the DISCOMs’ ratings had been downgraded due to the YSRCP government’s actions.
He said the coalition government reduced the cost of power purchases from ₹5.42 per unit to ₹4.90 a unit, thereby saving 52 paise per unit in the last two years, whereas the agriculture and industrial sectors suffered a lot due to power supply issues and steep rise in electricity costs during the YSRCP rule.
Mr. Ravi Kumar said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had transformed Andhra Pradesh into a power-surplus State in just six months after bifurcation and implemented 24-hour power supply for agricultural, domestic and industrial sectors.
Power was being supplied to the farm sector for 9 hours during the day and, so far, 1.50 lakh agriculture power connections were sanctioned under the purview of the three DISCOMs.
Due to the reforms brought in by the coalition government, transmission losses, which were over 35%, came down to 7% by 2024 and much lower later. The transmission capacity increased from 29,863 Megavolt-Ampere (MVA) to 46,987 MVA and A.P. emerged as the leader in the implementation of energy efficiency programmes.
Further, the Minister said, as Mr. Naidu promised, steps were taken not to increase the electricity charges in the next three years and pointed out that A.P. was the only State that reduced the tariffs through its true-down mechanism. The government was committed to providing quality power to the people, for which substations and transmission lines were built at a cost of ₹6,000 crore.
Special Chief Secretary K. Vijayanand, AP-Genco MD P. Pulla Reddy, AP-Transco Joint MD G. Surya Sai Praveenchand, New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of A.P. VC & MD M. Kamalakar Babu and other senior officials of the AP-Genco, AP-Transco and DISCOMs were present.
Published - June 25, 2026 11:20 am IST
Source: The Hindu - India News
