Coalition government *imposed Rs.20,136 crore power burden on people in two years*

Tadepalli, June 25: YSRCP MLC Dr. Monditoka Arun Kumar on Thursday accused the TDP-led coalition government of misleading people by claiming that electricity tariffs had not been increased during its two years in office. He said the report released by Energy Minister Gottipati Ravi Kumar was "a poster of lies" and alleged that the government had imposed an additional burden of Rs.20,136 crore on consumers through various hidden charges.

Addressing the media at the YSRCP central office in Tadepalli, Arun Kumar said the government had collected thousands of crores through surcharges, adjustment charges and service charges while falsely claiming that power tariffs remained unchanged. He challenged the Energy Minister to visit any village and any household in the state to compare electricity bills from June 2024 and June 2026 in the presence of the public.

The YSRCP leader said Andhra Pradesh was already a power-surplus state at the time of bifurcation and rejected the coalition government's claim that it had transformed the state's power sector. He alleged that the previous TDP government had pushed power utilities into heavy debt, while the YSRCP government provided substantial subsidies to support the discoms.

Arun Kumar also alleged that the coalition government had ignored a lower-priced power procurement arrangement with SECI and instead opted to purchase power from a private company at a much higher rate. He demanded an immediate rollback of the increased power charges and warned that the YSRCP would launch a statewide agitation if the government failed to reduce the burden on consumers.