Power tariff hike: AP ferro alloys industry to shut shop

The Rs 1,500-crore ferro alloys industry in Andhra Pradesh, which accounts for 30 per cent of the country’s total production, has decided to close down its operations effective April 1, if the state government went ahead with its proposed plan of hiking power tariff for the industry by around 80 per cent.

There are about 30-odd ferro alloys units in the state, producing about 250,000 tonne annually, a bulk of which is located in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts.

“We have to compete globally and cannot pass on the power cost hikes to our consumers,” RK Saraf, president of the AP Ferro Alloys Producers Association, told mediapersons here on Sunday.

It may be noted that the AP discoms, in the latest round of revision of power costs, have proposed to hike power tariff from about Rs 2.65 per unit by another Rs 2 a unit, which will result in an increase in ferro alloys production costs from the existing Rs 6,500 per tonne to Rs 9,000 a tonne.