Two Andhra discoms to ink triparite deal for implementing UDAY

Two power distribution companies in Andhra Pradesh will sign a tripartite agreement with the state government and the Union Power Ministry for implementing the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) here on Friday.

Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will attend the event.

AP was the first state to evince interest to join UDAY, when it was announced in November last year to pull the heavily debt-ridden power discoms out of the red.

However, it could not move ahead because the state finance department did not clear the proposal all these months.

After a change of guard at the finance department last month, things started moving and the plan was finally approved by the chief minister on Thursday, under which discoms' debts amounting to Rs 8,892 crore out of the total Rs 14,720 crore would be absorbed by the state government.

AP will now become the 13th state in the country to join UDAY.

The power minister will hold a high-level meeting with the chief minister and the state government officials tomorrow to discuss the performance of the power sector in Andhra Pradesh.

Goyal will discuss a five-point programme that includes 24x7 power supply to all sectors, 100% household electrification, enhancement of power generation capacity and reduction in transmission and distribution losses.

Promotion of new and renewable energy, including development of solar energy parks to generate 4000 MW, and energy efficiency activities will also be discussed, according to Chief Executive Officer of State Energy Conservation Mission A Chandrasekhar Reddy.

"The Centre is also keen to study the latest initiative of the state government in launching Andhra Pradesh State Energy Efficiency Development Corporation, a first-of-its-kind entity exclusively for implementing energy efficiency programmes," Reddy said in a release.