AMARAVATI: Notwithstanding apprehensions among farmers, the state government is going ahead to fix smart meters to about 18 lakh agriculture pumpsets in the next two to three months.
Andhra Pradesh will be the first state in the country to place the entire agriculture sector on metered calculation once the project is completed. The government has assured that the nine-hour uninterrupted supply of power to the agriculture sector will continue to be free even after fixation of meters. "There is no need to panic. Free power will continue as long as the YSRC is in power," said energy minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy.
All three distribution companies have called for tenders to procure about 18 lakh smart meters.
The EPDCL, which launched the pilot project in Srikakulam, has fitted meters to 26,000 pumpsets in the last few months and started generating bills. The farmers did not have to pay for metered consumption except for 30 as customer charges.
Sources said the bills generated in the initial months reflected consumption ranging between 400 and 1,500 per month. "We are closely monitoring the situation. Meters will help us track supply fluctuations and help strengthen the required infrastructure," said CMD, EPDCL, K Santosh Rao.
The government released 6 crore to manage the free supply scheme for the agriculture sector. The unit cost was pegged at 6.58, which is higher than the unit price fixed for household supplies. Sources said the cost was fixed as per the APERC order based on total production cost. "In order to bring down power purchase and production costs, we have decided to procure about 7000 MW solar power from SECI at just 2.49 per unit which will be fully spared for the agriculture sector," said energy secretary Nagulapalli Srikanth.
The government is determined to go ahead with fixation of meters as it wants to streamline transmission and distribution losses and prevent power theft. "Fixation of meters is helpful in many ways. First, farmers would know how much the government is spending on free power subsidy for agriculture. Secondly, it would prevent power pilferage and unauthorised use of free power. Finally, it will help us track the load on transformers and strengthen the network to reduce transmission and distribution losses," said a senior energy official. He added it is a kind of direct benefit transfer for discoms that will bail them out of the red as the government would pay subsidy dues without any delay.
