The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Power engineers asked to cut losses

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Power engineers asked to cut losses

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 14. The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, on Tuesday, urged power engineers to strive to reduce transmission and distribution (T & D) losses, improve efficiency and reduce generation costs.

At the inaugural of a two-day national workshop on `Power', organised by the APSEB Engineers' Association and the All India Power Engineers' Federation here, he had a word of appreciation for APGenco and AP Transco. The Government was not against the private sector per se, but the public sector companies had proved themselves. He said hydel generation projects to the tune of 2000 MW using Godavari waters would be taken up by APGenco.

TDP Government flayed

He took a dig at the previous Government, saying it had given undue encouragement to private sector. On the Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) alone, private companies were benefiting by about Rs. 200 crores every year, he said, reiterating that they needed to be put under the microscope soon.

The Finance Minister, K. Rosaiah, said even without reforms, the then State Electricity Board had registered profits until 1994. The downslide had started after that. Rachel Chatterjee, CMD, APTransco, said it was necessary to bridge the urban - rural gap in power distribution. Until now, the focus was on the urban areas only.

Execution of projects

The Principal Secretary, Energy and Chairman, APGenco, D.K. Panwar said the focus would be on faster execution of ongoing projects and taking up of fresh projects.

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