Minister Savitha holds Jagan responsible for increase in electricity tariff

Vijayawada:BC welfare minister S. Savitha on Friday maintained that the current hike in power tariff is due to agreements that the erstwhile YSRC government had signed.

Addressing media at the Secretariat in Velagapudi, she pointed out that as the then chief minister of AP, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had asked the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) to increase power charges after the 2024 elections.

Savitha said Jagan now protesting against the tariff hike is ironic and bizarre. She claimed that the former CM’s corruption and inefficiency had led to a debt burden of ₹1,29,503 crore on the state and power distribution companies (DISCOMs).

The minister contrasted Jagan’s administration with the term of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu from 2014 to 2019, when power tariff had not been hiked even once. “When Jagan Mohan Reddy had been the chief minister from 2019 to 2024, electricity charges had been increased nine times,” Savitha pointed out.

She highlighted Naidu’s efforts to transform Andhra Pradesh into a power-surplus state.