The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Free power: Transco gets into brass tacks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 20, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Free power: Transco gets into brass tacks

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MAY 19. The Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APTransco) has asked the four distribution companies to maintain energy flow to agricultural pump sets for seven hours per day but issue monthly consumption bills to the farmers levying only `customer service charges' of Rs. 20 a month each.

This small collection is to be used for maintenance/repair of transformers and transmission lines and for payments to private parties for preparation of the bills. The power utility has issued these instructions pending formal Government orders.

However, there are no immediate takers of the benefit as the rabi crop come to an end in mid-April. As a result, the total demand for energy in the State has come down drastically and is now revolving around 110 million units per day. The fall is also caused by rain and cloudy weather continuing in parts of the State due to the depression in the sea.

Capitalising upon the `lean period', the Transco yesterday gave the green signal for backing down the second unit (500 MW) of the Simhadri plant for annual maintenance work. If the demand graph remains the same as now, the utility wants to take up maintenance of other thermal stations too which have been in operation without any relief from the monsoon period through the summer.

The agriculture load starts with the commencement of the kharif season in June and reaches its peak in August. The demand by the 23 lakh agriculture pump sets in the State for which free power benefit has been applied is likely to go up beyond normal level this year because of the fall in water-table at a number of places due to drought spell.

Reports suggest that farmers had to invariably go down to a depth of 300-500 ft for their borewells in Telangana and Rayalaseema regions. The upland areas of West Godavari, Guntur and Krishna are no exceptions, implying an increased consumption. Initial estimates predict a heavy pressure on the grid even during the monsoon period, bringing in a summer-like situation, with possible indiscriminate running of the pump sets.

Under normal circumstances, agriculture sector claims nearly 31 per cent of the total generation but in the light of the `free supply', Transco officials fear, this may touch 45 mu during monsoon period itself. The daily requirement will be of the order of nearly 135-140 million units.

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