Congress hits out at APERC’s tariff proposal

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y. S. Sharmila on Thursday criticised the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (APERC) proposal to raise power tariffs, saying it contradicts Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s 2024 election promise that electricity charges would not be increased.

In a post on X, Sharmila said the proposed hike would place an additional burden of Rs 15,651 crore on consumers in the next financial year. She said many people voted for the Telugu Desam-led coalition with the expectation that power costs would remain steady. “This exposes the government’s double standards,” she wrote.

She noted that households were already under pressure after the government imposed what she described as ₹15,000 crore in “adjustment charges” within 18 months of taking office. The new proposal, she said, could add another ₹15,000 crore burden on families, small businesses and farmers.

The APCC chief said the government should not shift the power sector’s financial shortfalls onto the public. She urged the Chief Minister to explain the government’s position, commit to absorbing the proposed burden and cancel the earlier adjustment charges.

Sharmila said the Congress would continue to raise the issue in public forums, arguing that affordable and dependable electricity is a basic expectation for all citizens.