The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Keen on 24-hour supply in coastal areas, says discom

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Saturday, Jun 17, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Keen on 24-hour supply in coastal areas, says discom

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Power supply to villages in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor and Kadapa districts has registered an improvement.

Single-phase power was made available to them for most part of the day. "Our goal, however, is to provide electricity to 16 lakh consumers in the domestic and commercial sectors round-the-clock," says P. Gopal Reddy, CMD of Tirupati-headquartered southern discom, operating in these districts.

No overdrawals

The discom could touch at least the 24-hour supply mark without resorting to overdrawals. On no single occasion during the critical summer days, did it exceed its quota fixed by the Transco, 31 million units a day. Ranking second among the four discoms in performance, the APSPDCL contributed significantly to the overall scenario of the power sector enabling the State to get the CRISIL trophy for the third year in a row.

Mr Reddy who was here in connection with the trophy being shown to the Chief Minister, told The Hindu that the revenue collections by APSPDCL has touched a high of Rs 2,175 crores for 2005-06 following increase in metered sales. It is likely to go up to Rs 2,300 crores for the current year. "Payments by consumers against monthly bills is always cent per cent in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts", he added. The increased revenue is the result of several measures initiated by the company, the foremost among them being improved customer' service, he stated.

Additional revenue

The APSPDCL, in fact, has earned additional revenue by avoiding overdrawals and by reducing transmission & distribution losses. A spot-billing system introduced by the company which cost Rs 1.50 per household, turned out to be so cheap, that it saved Rs. one crore.

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