Once power-starved, Telangana now self-sufficient

State to celebrate 'Telangana Vidyuthu Vijayotsavam' on Moday as part of Formation Day fete

Hyderabad: From acute power shortages, the State, which is celebrating ‘Telangana Vidyuthu Vijayotsavam’ on Monday as part of the Formation Day fete, has now turned completely self-sufficient in power in the last nine years under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. In 2014, the total installed capacity was 7,778 MW and the power shortage was at 2700 MW. However, within a few years, the State turned things around and by 2019-20, Telangana turned into a power surplus State. Currently, the contracted installed power capacity stood at 18,567 MW.

There were times when industrial consumers faced power holidays of up to three days a week and no supply during peak hours. Even domestic and commercial consumers faced up to six hours of power cuts, but today, despite the huge demand, the State government is successfully providing uninterrupted power supply for domestic, commercial and industrial needs.

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Telangana is the only State in the country which is providing round-the-clock free power to farmers. The State government has provided a subsidy of Rs 36,890 crore for free electricity to agriculture from 2014-15 to 2021-22. In order to strengthen the transmission and distribution network in the State, the government invested over Rs 39,321 crore in the last nine years, following which power production increased and the distribution network too got strengthened. The distribution system has been strengthened with the construction of substations, installation of power transformers, distribution transformers and construction of new lines at a cost of Rs 22,502 crore.

The State recorded a peak power demand of 15,497 MW on March 30, which is the highest so far. Earlier in united Andhra Pradesh, the peak demand was 13,162 MW. Similarly, the per-capita power consumption of Telangana, which is an index of the development of a State, has increased to 2,166 units per annum from 1,196 units in 2014. In fact, it is 69.40 per cent more than all India per capita consumption of 1,255 units.

The State government is providing free power up to 101 units every month to 6,01,749 SC consumers and 3,26,335 ST consumers at a total cost of Rs 696 crore from 2015. Apart from this, the government is providing free power up to 250 units to 30,552 Nayee Brahmins hair-cutting saloons and 60,669 dhobi ghats and laundry shops.

The State government has provided a subsidy of Rs 11,500 crore to the distribution companies during the year 2022-23 to provide free power supply to 27.20 lakh agricultural consumers and subsidised power to domestic consumers. Telangana is at the forefront in solar energy generation in the country with a contracted capacity of 5,741 MW, with a total renewable capacity of 6,151 MW, whereas it had only 74 MW at the time of formation of the State ten years ago.

Today, Telangana is setting an example to other States in the country for registering rapid progress in electricity in a short time. Power officials from other States are studying the systems adopted by Telangana government and implementing them in their respective States.