Though it's just mid-February, Andhra Pradesh is already staring at power outages. From villages to cities like Vijayawada and Vizag, power is interrupted for hours in the day. The situation is likely to become more acute by May and June, the peak summer period. The power outages, which were not common during the past eight years, are now back.
The NTPC, which was among the main power providers for AP, has stopped supplying electricity as the AP Government has defaulted on payment of arrears. The government is now trying to get additional 500 megawatt power from the Hindujas to ensure uninterrupted power. But, this could take some more time and till such time, there could be power outages across the state, according to Transco officials.
Sources said that the Discoms owe around Rs 350 crore to the NTPC. Despite repeated reminders from the NTPC, the pending amounts were not cleared. Finally, the NTPC stopped providing power to the Discoms. The NTPC used to provide up to 800 MW. The NTPC has also blocked the Discoms from procuring power from other sources till their arrears were cleared.
The state government says that the power outages were a temporary phenomenon and that the issue would be sorted out very soon, Rajya Sabha MP Vijaya Sai Reddy said that the government was trying to set up alternative sources of power and soon the problems would be sorted out.
The NTPC, which was among the main power providers for AP, has stopped supplying electricity as the AP Government has defaulted on payment of arrears. The government is now trying to get additional 500 megawatt power from the Hindujas to ensure uninterrupted power. But, this could take some more time and till such time, there could be power outages across the state, according to Transco officials.
Sources said that the Discoms owe around Rs 350 crore to the NTPC. Despite repeated reminders from the NTPC, the pending amounts were not cleared. Finally, the NTPC stopped providing power to the Discoms. The NTPC used to provide up to 800 MW. The NTPC has also blocked the Discoms from procuring power from other sources till their arrears were cleared.
The state government says that the power outages were a temporary phenomenon and that the issue would be sorted out very soon, Rajya Sabha MP Vijaya Sai Reddy said that the government was trying to set up alternative sources of power and soon the problems would be sorted out.