People need relief during festive season but are burdened: Harish Rao hikes electricity charges in Telangana

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T. Harish Rao | Photo credit: BY ARRANGEMENT

HYDERABAD

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo in Telangana Assembly and former minister T. Harish Rao strongly opposed the proposed hike in electricity charges in the name of rectification, saying the government was imposing an additional burden of ₹5,420 crore on consumers.

Apart from the fact that people, especially farmers, suffer from power cuts, they are burdened by the increase in electricity charges. During Dasara and Diwali, the government was supposed to provide some relief to the people. Instead, it increased the burden, he said at a press conference in Hyderabad on Tuesday (Oct 06, 2026)

The Congress government has driven the power sector into financial trouble through mismanagement and is now trying to make consumers pay for these mistakes, he said. Mr. Rao recalled that during the BRS regime, the Telangana Electricity Regulatory Commission proposed correction charges of ₹ 12,718.40 crore for the period from 2016-17 to 2021-22. However, former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao did not allow this burden to be passed on to consumers.

Stating that the previous BRS government had invested heavily in strengthening the state’s power sector, Mr. Rao said Telangana had an installed power generation capacity of 7,778 MW before 2014 and it was increased to 19,450 MW by the end of 2023. The transmission network was also significantly expanded with new substations, transmission lines and transformers.

Mr. Rao said the BRS government has added a lot of generation capacity through Kothagudem, Bhadradri, Yadadri and Bhupalapally thermal power projects along with additional solar power capacity. However, due to lack of coal and other problems, they were not operated at full capacity.

Harish Rao claims he is going to privatize Telangana power companies

The BRS leader also opposed the reported move to dilute 26% of TG-Transco and alleged that the Congress government had proceeded to privatize TG-Transco, TG-Genco, Singareni and Discoms. He called on electricity workers to oppose the privatization proposals and demanded that the government withdraw them immediately.

“Power cuts are proof of government failure. Higher electricity bills are proof of its anti-people policies. The burden of ₹ 5,420 crore must be removed immediately and the government should bear the cost instead of passing it on to consumers,” Mr Rao demanded.

Published – 7 Oct 2026 11:39 AM IST