A day after widespread uproar alleging that former Chief Minister and YCP chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy was the main beneficiary, to the extent of 85 percent that came under the spotlight with US court filings in the indictment of Gautam Adani and others, the YCP has strongly refuted.
It was alleged that bribes of over Rs 1,750 crore were paid to a high-ranking Andhra Pradesh government official in exchange for facilitating the state’s distribution companies to buy solar power from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
The allegations stem from the period that the YCP was in power. The YCP on Friday made it clear that the state government had entered into an agreement with SECI to procure power, but there was no direct agreement between AP power distribution companies and any other entitled, including those belonging to the Adani Group.
The YCP central office in a statement made it clear therefore, the allegations made on the State Government, in the light of the indictment are incorrect. Moreover, it made it clear that the power procurement of 7,000 MW was approved by APERC (Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission) through its order on November 11, 2021.
After the APERC approval was obtained, the power sale agreement (PSA) was signed on December 1, 2021 between SECI and AP Discoms, which was after the CERC (Central Electricity Regulatory Commission) approval as well, it added.YCP also clarified that SECI is a Government of India enterprise.
The YCP stated that as the subsidy was very burdensome on AP government with a view to mitigate this problem, the state government in 2020 proposed to install 10,000 MW of solar capacity in solar parks to be developed in the state of AP.
In this regard, it said that a tender was floated by APGECL (Andhra Pradesh Green Energy Corporation Ltd) in November 2020 for development of solar power capacity aggregating to 6,400 MW power, wherein over 24 bids were received with the tariffs in the range of Rs 2.49 to Rs. 2.58 per kWh.
However, it added that the tender encountered several obstacles on legal and regulatory front and therefore, the exercise could not fructify. But the government subsequently received an offer from SECI to supply 7,000 MW of power “at the lowest discovered tariff” of Rs 2.49 per kWh, it added.