‘About 1,000 MW being added to the grid in phases from today’

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced there will not be any power cuts in Telangana State from May this year with about 1,000 MW being added to the grid in phases from Sunday.

There were power cuts to industry in Telangana from January itself last year as the region in the undivided State faced a severe power crisis, but nothing of the sort was resorted to so far this year, he said in the Legislative Council on Saturday.

“Our plant load factor has improved significantly as it is up 170 MW at the existing thermal power stations. One unit of Gayatri projects will generate 700 MW from Sunday and another 500 MW unit at the same station will go on stream from June. This apart, the State will get 260 MW from gas-based power plants as its share,” Mr. Rao said.

Responding to queries raised by Leader of Opposition D. Srinivas during general discussion on budget, he said there might be some load shedding at the power stations from March 20 to April 20 when consumption by agriculture sector would peak. “But after May, there will be no power cuts in Telangana,” he asserted. He also reiterated that the State would give nine-hour uninterrupted power supply from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for agriculture from 2016 and would maintain 24-hour supply to all sectors from 2017.

After careful consideration, the UPA government provided 53.89 per cent output to Telangana from AP-based power stations and 46 per cent to AP from Telangana power plants in the AP State Reorganisation Act. But, Andhra Pradesh’s reluctance to give Telangana its share of power in Hinduja and Krishnapatnam power projects proved to be a blessing in disguise, Mr. Rao said. “Otherwise, we would have committed to purchase power at the rate of Rs 7.20 a unit for several years from those plants and obliged AP by supplying cheaper power from Telangana generation corporation at Rs 3.75 a unit,” he said.

The government had represented to the Centre to re-allot the coal block at Tadicherla in Karimnagar district, which was cancelled as part of all India cancellations last year.