Telangana Govt sets 140 MU thermal target to counter El Niño impact; OTS mooted for closed industries’ power dues
Hyderabad, Oct 22 (TNT) :Anticipating a dip in hydel power generation due to El Niño conditions alongside surging electricity demand in the upcoming Rabi and summer seasons, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister and Energy Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Thursday directed officials to scale thermal generation to 140 million units (MU) per day to preempt shortages.
Reviewing power generation, transmission, and dues recovery with top energy sector officials at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar State Secretariat, the Deputy Chief Minister instructed utilities to formulate an action plan to ensure uninterrupted 24×7 power supply for agricultural, industrial, and domestic consumers.
Senior officials briefed the Minister that average thermal generation has climbed to 91 MU per day, recording a single-day peak of 118 MU on October 16.
Bhatti instructed TGGENCO to optimize plant load factors (PLF) and ensure all generating units operate at peak capacity to hit the 140 MU daily benchmark.
TGGENCO’s thermal generation trajectory has seen sustained growth: average daily production stood at 65.90 MU in FY 2024–25, rose to 76.46 MU in FY 2025–26, and touched 90.97 MU as of October 21 in the current fiscal year—marking a 19 percent (14.51 MU/day) year-on-year increase.
To secure steady fuel supply, an alternative coal linkage with Coal India Limited (CIL) has been arranged for two units of the Yadadri Thermal Power Station (YTPS), with shipments scheduled to begin in November.
Officials reported that four 800 MW units at Yadadri are operational, while the fifth unit was synchronized with the state grid on October 20. Technical and operational fine-tuning is underway on a war footing to bring the fifth unit into full commercial operation.
In a major relief measure for stressed enterprises, Bhatti directed the CMDs of TGSPDCL and TGNPDCL to draft a comprehensive One-Time Settlement (OTS) policy for settling long-pending electricity arrears of closed and sick industrial units.
He stated that the OTS scheme would extend financial leeway to eligible entrepreneurs while allowing state distribution companies (discoms) to recover long-stalled revenue.
Concurrently, the Deputy Chief Minister directed Finance Department officials to initiate recovery of pending dues owed by various state government departments and entities to power utilities, including Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), TGGENCO, and TGTRANSCO.
The review meeting was attended by Special Chief Secretary (Energy) Naveen Mittal, Principal Secretary (Finance) Sandeep Kumar Sultania, Singareni CMD B. Prakash Jyothi, TGGENCO CMD Harish, TGTRANSCO CMD Krishna Bhaskar, TGSPDCL CMD Jitesh V. Patil, RPDCL CMD Musharraf Ali Faruqui, and Singareni Director Goutam Potru, among other senior officials.
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