HYDERABAD: Reluctance by the then BRS government appears to have delayed the opportunity for Telangana to use 2,400 MW of electricity that the state was to get under the AP Reorganisation Act.
NTPC was to set up a thermal power plant with three units of 800 MW each at Ramagundam has been on the backburner, though the National Thermal Power Corporation reached out to the then state government to enter a power purchase agreement (PPA). The then BRS government responded saying that it would need to look into the pricing of electricity.
The NTPC had offered to supply power at Rs 4.12 per unit, of which Rs 2.07 was fixed charge, and Rs 2.05 was variable charge during the first year, with the final tariff would be fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The 2,400 MW NTPC plant was designed to be an expansion of the 2x800MW units at Ramagundam, of which the second unit was recently commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The first unit has been supplying power to Telangana. As per the AP Reorganisation Act, Telangana state was to get a total of 5,000 MW from the plant.
The delay on part of the BRS government in finalising the PPA came to light in a reply to an RTI query to NTPC from Inaganti Ravikumar, an RTI activist from Vijayawada. In its reply, the NTPC said it had written thrice to the TS Power Coordination Committee, the first time on October 5, 2023, and again on January on 9 and 29 in 2024.
“The present government under Congress is seized of the matter and a decision would be taken on it. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has personally requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the construction of the three 800 MW units going,” a senior official of the power department said.
Incidentally, the NTPC had said in 2017 that it has prepared plans for the three units to be built at a cost of around Rs 17,000 crore. In its letters to the state, the NTPC said that there was increasing demand for power in the country and if the state does not come forward for finalising the power purchase agreement, then it would have no option but to offer 2,400MW to other states.
