Telangana State has powered its way into the record books on the energy front in the country, registering the highest growth rate of 13.62 percent in power consumption and per capita consumption touching 1,727 units in 2017-18. These are two critical components of the development index which indicate the pace of development.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) released the nation-wide statistics of the progress of various States in the power sector, and Telangana has emerged on the top of these two key indexes. The State also registered an impressive 11.94 percent growth rate in maximum power demand.
What is notable is that the growth rate in power consumption is 122.91 percent more than the country’s average growth rate. Uttar Pradesh with a higher population than Telangana could register only 11.92 percent to take the second position while Andhra Pradesh took the third position with a distant growth rate of 7.43 percent.
That Telangana State has made rapid strides in the power sector in just four years of its existence is clear from the fact that in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the annual growth rate of power consumption was a mere 6 percent, less than half of what it is now.
In 2016-17, power consumption in TS was 53,017 million units, and in 2017-18, it had gone up to 60,237 million units, registering a growth of 13.62 percent. Compare it with the national consumption of 11,35,334 million units in 2016-17 which went up to 12,04,697 million units in 2017-18, recording a growth of a meager 6.11 percent!
“It is a proud moment and symbol of development index,” was how Transco and Genco CMD D Prabhakar Rao reacted to the development. He said the State was poised to achieve higher figures of growth next year. He has expressed his happiness over the State performance details given by the Central Electricity Authority for 2017-18.
Telangana State by registering 11.34 percent growth rate in per capita power consumption took the top spot on this score too. Besides the State has achieved considerable progress in sanctioning connections for agriculture pump sets. Prior to the formation of Telangana, there were regulations for sanctioning agriculture pump set connections which has been done away after the formation of the State. In four years after the formation of Telangana, 4.28 lakhs of agriculture pump set connections were sanctioned.
11.34% growth in power consumption
Telangana registered 11.34% growth rate in per capita power consumption to secure the first place in the country on this count. In 2016-17 the per capita power consumption in the State was 1551 units.
In 2017-18 it was 1,727 units. At the same time in the same period, the nationwide power consumption growth rate was just 2.4%.
The per capita power consumption throughout the country in 2016-17 was 1,122 units and in 2017-18 it was 1,149 units. Among the States where the per capita power consumption is more than 1000 units, Andhra Pradesh stands next to Telangana.
The State wise growth rates are: Andhra Pradesh 5.23%, Maharashtra 4.8%, Himachal Pradesh 3.9% and Madhya Pradesh 3.13%. After formation of Telangana State the per capita power consumption has grown to 59.32%. In 2013-14 it was 1,084 units and by 2017-18 it reached 1,727 units.
Telangana could achieve this due to round-the-clock 24-hour free power supply to agriculture as well as 24/7 uninterrupted and quality power supply to every sector.
The power consumption has increased substantially in commercial and industrial sectors due to quality power supply without any power cuts. Industries have been working in three shifts.
Due to all these the power consumption in Telangana has grown substantially compared to other States. The growth in power consumption is viewed all over the world as a development index.
Power sector aims at raising the bar
TS GENCO and TRANSCO CMD Devulapally Prabhakar Rao on Friday exuded confidence that the State would achieve higher growth in power sector during 2018-19, compared to 2017-18. The prospects appear to be much better in the current year, he added.
The CMD explained that the growth in consumption was due to the round-the-clock power supply to the agriculture sector since January 1, 2018. The highest peak demand registered so far this year was 10,818 MW. It may surpass an estimated 11,000 MW during Rabi season.
Once the lift irrigation schemes in construction are commissioned, there will be enormous increase in the power requirement resulting in more power consumption, he said. The per capita power consumption will also go up in the State accordingly. The CMD said that the overall growth rate in power consumption was 13.64 pc during 2017-18. Telangana’s GSDP growth rate was 14.1 pc during the same period. Due to improvement in power supply, both the production and productivity increased in agriculture and industrial sectors.
The power consumption had increased substantially in commercial and industrial sectors due to quality power supply without any power cuts. Industries have been working in three shifts, he added.
While the aggregate pump set connections from 2010 to 2014 were only 2,82,875, between 2014-18, the aggregate agriculture pump set connections were 4,28,208.
In undivided Andhra Pradesh, there were 70,283 pump set connections in 2010-11 in Telangana region, 78,210 connections in 2011-12, 71,717 connections in 2012-13 and 62,665 in 2013-14. After formation of Telangana, in 2014-15, it went up to 94,070, 93,299 in 2015-16, 1,17,277 connections in 2016-17, 82,934 connections in 2017-18 and in 2018-19, as on date, 40,628 connections were sanctioned.
Prior to the formation of Telangana, per year, only 70,000 pump sets were sanctioned while after the State came into existence, in the past four years, the average per year sanction was 97,000 connections.
TS role model for other States, says KCR
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Friday expressed happiness over Telangana registering the highest growth in demand for power in the country. He said the State made speedy progress in fighting power crisis and met the growing demand for quality power supply within a span of four years since its formation.
He said Telangana became a role model for other States by ensuring uninterrupted power supply to all sectors — agriculture, industrial, domestic and commercial. “The growth in demand for power indicates progress of the State in the right direction. We could achieve such results with a proper action plan and its execution by the power transmission and distribution companies,” he said.
He assured that the Telangana government was making necessary arrangements to meet power supply demands for the next one year. He said the government’s initiative to supply uninterrupted power helped increase productivity in various sectors.
Source: Telangana Today