Our Bureau

Hyderabad , Sept. 18

THE Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, decided on Sunday that there should be no hike in electricity charges for the entire five-year term of the present Government — till 2009.

The decision was taken following the continuing inflows into reservoirs that helped in the large-scale generation of cheaper hydel power, and created substantial scope for improvement in the performance of power utilities, said a release.

The Chief Minister had announced earlier that there would be no power tariff hike for 2006-07. The latest decision to not hike power tariffs till 2009 was based on a discussion the Chief Minister had with the power officials in the early hours of Sunday.

However, the Government plans to make an official announcement on the decision only after the municipal elections this month-end, subject to a formal approval by the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission. If approved, the move will benefit around 80 lakh domestic consumer families in both urban and rural areas.

Towards this, the Government proposes to hold meetings at the district and field level to receive feedback from different sections to improve the performance of power utilities, maintain quality and provide power at a reasonable tariff. Subsequently, the State Cabinet will review the matter.

The Chief Minister has evolved a three-pronged strategy to avoid increasing the power tariff. As part of this, the State will increase the present installed capacity of 11,134 megawatts (MW) to 16,000 MW by the end of 2008-09.

Measures will be taken to reduce the transmission and distribution losses from the present level of 21 per cent to 18 per cent by 2009-end. By launching sub-divisional consumer centres, the State also proposes to upgrade the customer service to world-class standards.

The State Government is contemplating investing around Rs 5,000 crore in the transmission and distribution sector alone up to 2009-end.

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