Central Scheme For Rural Electricity

The state government has urged the Centre to sanction free domestic connections to around 20 lakh Below Poverty Line (BPL) consumers, besides the electrification of the colonies of marginalised sections, under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameena Vidyuthikarana Yojana (RGGVY).

The state has also permitted the mobilisation of funds to a tune of Rs. 4,000 crores through power bonds, towards the clearance of more power purchases, Energy Secretary Dinesh Kumar said in a press release in Hyderabad on Sunday.

This is besides providing a tariff subsidy of Rs. 4,300 crores, he said.

Even though the state's installed generation capacity doubled in the past decade, AP is unable to meet its power requirement, due to an unprecedented increase in power demand, a shortage of coal and natural gas, a dry spell, and reduced inflows into hydel reservoirs, he said.

Besides giving top-most priority to domestic and agriculture sectors, special care has been taken to meet the needs of the industrial sector to minimise power shortages through the proposed Expensive Power Purchase Charge (EPPC) scheme, he said. (INN)