AP departments yet to pay dues to discoms

Vijayawada: There is an ongoing tussle between the AP energy sector and the TS energy department over dues of Rs 4,400 crore owed by the latter. Apart from this, the AP energy sector is also having trouble with other departments of the AP state government. The irrigation department owes the energy department Rs 600 crore in the form of arrears on electricity bills. As a result of the unpaid dues, the energy department is suffering from lack of funds.

A senior official from the department says that they have been unable to erect 132 KV sub-stations, especially in the Rayalaseema region, because they do not have money. The energy department owes Rs 13,000 crore to the banks. K. Kala Venkata Rao, the minister for power, says that the officials of the department are in the process of negotiating with banks to reduce the interest due on the loan amount.

The minister says that the government is prepa-ring to commence the se-cond phase of the power reforms soon. He says that wind and solar energy production has incre-ased the total power generated in the state to 4,000 MW. He added that the energy department has identified two mandals in the districts of Vizianagaram and Nellore, for the implementation of an energy-storing project on a pilot basis.

A special meeting was held in the Secretariat, in the presence of the minister, where these issues were discussed at length. During the meeting, a senior bureaucrat raised concerns regarding the large amounts owed to the department. The minister asked members of the energy department to focus on recovering the dues owed by other government depar-tments, especially in cases where the amount was over Rs 1 crore.

“Let there be a special drive for this,” the minister said. APGenco has stopped supplying power to the Telangana government because of the non-payment of dues of Rs 4,498 crore. Officials of Telangana Genco have informed APGenco, in their off-the-record conversations, that the state now has surplus power because it receives 1,000 MW from Chhattisgarh. An APGenco official, says that Telangana has grown confident due to the availability of surplus power. “Adjusting arrears is not a priority for Telangana, they want to enjoy a game of confrontation with AP,” another APGenco official says.

Steps taken to identify bill defaulters:

Electricity Revenue Offices (EROs) have been assigned the task of identifying government departments that owe the energy department money. They have been asked to come up with exact figures so that requests for the payment of dues may be sent. K. Venkateswsarlu, the senior accounts officer (SAO) of the Krishna district SPDCL, says that the revenue administration department of Krishna district owes the energy department Rs 5.5 crore as of March this year, the agriculture department owes Rs 54 lakh, the Rural Water Supply (RWS) department owes Rs 6 crore, and the irrigation Utility and Comma-nd Area Development (IUCAD) owes Rs 6 crore. 26 government departments owe the energy department Rs 15 crore in all.

A majority of the dues, Rs 10 crore, have piled up because of the Vedadri Lift Irrigation Scheme. The panchayats of Krishna district owe Rs 120 crore in all, in the form of electricity dues. K. Vijaykumar, the superintending engineer of the SPDCL, says that there are about 20 EROs across Vijayawada town, Vijayawada rural, Gun-adala, Machilipatnam, Gudivada and Vuyyuru. He urges the consumers of electricity to clear their long-pending dues at the earliest so that the energy department may address major maintenance works that have been put on hold for lack of funds.