Centre orders Telangana to pay Rs 6,756 cr in power dues to AP

Hyderabad: A fresh row has erupted between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the issue of power supply bills, following an order to Telangana from the Union Ministry of Power on Monday. The power ministry ordered TS pay AP Rs 6,756.92 crore within the next 30 days.

The ministry said the orders followed representations from Andhra Pradesh over the dues owed by Telangana for power purchases made between June 2, 2014, and June 10, 2017. The payment must be made within 30 days, the order said.

Hours after the orders from the Union Ministry of Power got into public domain, the Telangana power department said it was Andhra Pradesh, which in fact owed Rs 12.940 crore to Telangana as on December 31, 2021. Of this amount, the department said Rs 7,807 crore was the principal, and the balance Rs 5,134 crore was interest charged at the rate of 10.5 per cent per annum.

Reacting to the order, Telangana Power Minister K Jagadish Reddy said “this is nothing but yet another vengeful act on part of the Central government. Andhra Pradesh owes Telangana Rs 12,900 crore. The Centre never responded to our pleas on these dues.” The Centre, he said, was only able to see letters from Andhra Pradesh, but not those written by Telangana.

He further said the Central Government is “deliberately plotting to plunge Telangana into darkness. The BJP government is not able to digest the success of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao in making Telangana a power-cut free state. This is nothing more than a move to make farmers pay for their power supply.”

The Ministry of Power said Telangana owes Andhra Pradesh Rs 3,441.78 crore as power supply dues, and another Rs 3,315.14 crore as late payment surcharges.

It said the power was supplied by Andhra Pradesh to Telangana as per the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, which stipulated that the “successor state that has a deficit or electricity shall have the first right of refusal for the purchase of surplus power from the other successor state.”

The Ministry then said that “every right of one party entails a corresponding duty. Right and duty are co-joined and as such Telangana must pay the power dues to Andhra Pradesh for electricity supplied to them under the orders of Government of India under the AP Reorganization Act, 2014.”

It said there was no dispute regarding the payment, and hence, Telangana must pay Andhra Pradesh the money owed for power supply. These dues relate to power supplied by Andhra Pradesh between June 2, 2014, and June 10, 2017, the order said, adding that it received representations from Andhra Pradesh that Telangana has not paid these dues.