'Media, TDP's Malicious Campaign': YSRCP On Deal With Solar Energy Firm

The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has strongly refuted allegations made by a newspaper and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that the previous state government allegedly accepted a power supply offer "hastily" and the offer put a huge burden of Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

The YSRCP in a statement said the Eenadu newspaper used disinformation spread by the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to allege that an offer made by Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) in September 2021 to supply power at Rs 2.49 per kWh was accepted by the then state government very hastily within a seven-hour period, without allegedly taking adequate time to consider the strengths and shortcomings of the proposal.

The report also alleged the proposal was very adverse to the interests of the public, with a burden of Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

In the statement, the YSRCP said the allegations were made despite the fact that one, the tariff was lower than all the sources of power to Andhra Pradesh discoms (power distribution companies) till date and two, despite the offer also conveying the central government's special incentive of waiver of inter-state transmission charges.

"In response to the first allegation, the extremely beneficial offer from SECI was received on the 15th September, 2021 and the binding agreement in the form of a PSA (power sale agreement) amongst the parties, AP (Andhra Pradesh) discoms, government of Andhra Pradesh and SECI was executed on the 1st December, 2021. Therefore, there was a gap of more than two and a half months between the date of receipt of offer and the date of signing of the binding contract," the YSRCP said in the statement.

"Till the time of the signing of PSA on the 1st December, 2021, there was nothing binding on the government of Andhra Pradesh or on any of its undertakings. During these two and half months, several rounds of deliberations took place between the officials of Andhra Pradesh and the officials of SECI, the strengths and weaknesses associated with the proposal were deeply analyzed and further, the approval of Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission for this proposal was sought on 8th November, 2021, and the same was accorded on the 11th November, 2021," the party led by former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said.

The YSRCP in the statement said the newspaper alleged the decision to execute the PSA was taken by the Council of Ministers on 16th September itself.

"... Fact is that the Council of Ministers meeting was scheduled to take place on 16th September, a week ago itself. Incidentally, the offer from SECI was received on 15th September 2021 and the SECI offer letter sought response from the government at the earliest. Cognizant of the fact that the entire process would take at least two-three months, the then government did not want to delay the process as SECI requested and as such the item was placed in the Council of Ministers meeting that took place on 16th September, 2021, for its guidance," the YSRCP said in the statement.

"The Council of Ministers directed the State Energy Department to further study the proposal and the energy department constituted a committee headed by the chairman of APPCC (Andhra Pradesh Power Coordination Committee) to look into the offer from the SECI. After several rounds of detailed discussions and deliberations amongst its members and also with the officials of SECI the committee gave its recommendations on the 25th of October in favour of the proposal from SECI and the same were placed before the Council of Ministers in its meeting scheduled on the 28th October, 2021 and the Council of Ministers took the decision to go ahead and approve the execution of PSA with SECI subject to approval from APERC.

"The application to APERC was made on 8th November, 2021 and after the approval was received from APERC on the 11th November, 2021, the PSA was executed on the 1st December, 2021. Therefore, the campaign of the Eenadu newspaper and the Telugu Desam Party is totally baseless and exposes their malafide intent of misleading the public," the YSRCP said in the statement.

It said a response to the second allegation by Eenadu newspaper is unnecessary because despite conveying several times and showing evidence as to why inter-state transmission system (ISTS) charges would not be applicable to the arrangement with SECI - quoting ISTS waiver clause offered as a special incentive by the Union Ministry of Power - Eenadu "irresponsibly publishes that the burden on account of ISTS charges would have to be borne by the state discoms."

Mr Reddy's party said the SECI offer clearly specifies that the Union government has provided the waiver on ISTS charges for this project, as part of their offer. Further, the letter from SECI conveying the waiver has also been placed in public domain several times to provide ample clarity as to the applicability of ISTS charges to the arrangement with SECI, the YSRCP said.

Despite this, Eenadu newspaper continues to spread lies, reducing itself to a pamphlet of Telugu Desam Party, the YSRCP said.