Visakhapatnam: The three-day public hearing conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC), which was presided over and conducted by C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy, concluded on Saturday.
Reading out the government statement at the public hearing, deputy energy secretary B.A.V.P. Kumar Reddy said state power distribution companies were also among the power companies with the lowest distribution losses.
However, the state power companies were facing high fixed charge debts to the tune of Rs 84,183 crore and losses over Rs 29,928 crore, Reddy said.
Under these conditions, the government was taking steps to reduce losses, ensure quality power to consumers, and provide free power to some sections.
He also took measures to purchase power at reduced rates and resort to good governance while implementing central and state government schemes.
Regarding the fixing of meters to the agricultural connections, Reddy said the state government launched free nine hour power to the farmers in the financial year 2021-2022 and decided to fix meters to all the connections.
The process of fixing meters to the farm connections would begin in Srikakulam district and later be taken up by the rest of the districts. The entire expenditure on fixing meters would be borne by the state government.
Similarly, in order to modernise the power supply process and reduce transmission losses, the central government sanctioned Rs 13,404 crore, which includes the fixing of smart meters and training the personnel in the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).
