AP industry loses Rs 12,000 cr due to power cuts

State exchequer also sees a loss of Rs 1,400 crore in the last two months.

Industry in Andhra Pradesh has lost Rs 12,000 crore worth production in the last two months due to power cuts, according to the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci).

Fappci said industry was losing Rs 800 crore every day due to power cuts and nearly Rs 2,400 crore every week. In the process, the state exchequer had also lost tax revenue to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore during this period.

A delegation of Fapcci headed by its president, VS Raju, called on minister for IT, communications and endowments, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, on Thursday and explained the hardships faced by industry on account of power cuts.

Fapcci stated in a press release that its senior vice president, Devendra Surana, told the minister that there was no supply of power to industry for two days in a week in addition to 4 hours daily power cut. "The power cut to industry amounts to 40 percent as against the energy shortage of only 10 percent in the state", he pointed out.

Keeping this in view, Surana suggested the government could as well buy high cost power as the amount lost in this way would not be more than the loss of tax revenue due to power shortages.

Stating that the SSI sector was the worst affected, Fappci said SSIs were quite vulnerable and suffer heavily whenever power cuts were imposed. It appealed to the government that the SSI sector be given some consideration and  that the power cut to the sector be reduced. “Being labor-intensive, it is affected by severe loss of jobs, creating industrial and human relations problems,” it added.

The minister was stated to have asked chairman and managing director of the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (Transco), Ajay Jain, to explore whether there was a possibility to reduce power cuts to the SSI sector.

On the other hand, Jain explained to the delegation that two power plants in the state were shut down and the supply had become quite critical to meet the rising demand. He was expecting the power cut would be restricted to one day a week from Dec 20.

To meet the power shortage in January to May 2012, Jain informed that about 400 Mw would be purchased from the southern region and another 400 Mw was likely to be made available from gas-based power plants in the state by supplying them RLNG purchased from international markets. The RLNG, however, was subject to the approval of the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission.