Ten years after bifurcation, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) is preparing to shift from Hyderabad to Kurnool and start functioning from June 2, 2024.
All offices of the Government of Andhra Pradesh had moved to Amaravati in the wake of the bifurcation of the unified State, but the APERC remained headquartered in Hyderabad.
APERC Chairman Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and his predecessor Justice G. Bhavani Prasad have since conducted public hearings on the annual aggregate revenue requirement of the DISCOMs and tariff proposals in the purview of the respective places.
Now, as Hyderabad soon ceases to be the common capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on June 2, 2024, the APERC is poised to move out.
According to official sources, the APERC is getting its voluminous files and other material packed at its head office located at Singareni Bhavan in Hyderabad to begin shifting next week in order to function from Kurnool on the above date.
The stage for shifting the APERC to Kurnool had been set with the issuance of G.O. Ms. No. 9 by Special Chief Secretary (Energy) K. Vijayanand on April 28, 2023. Through this G.O, Kurnool was notified as the headquarters of the APERC. Incidentally, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had proposed to develop Kurnool as the Judicial Capital as part of his government’s decentralisation policy.
Already, the AP Lokayukta (a statutory authority that works as an ombudsman and investigates complaints of corruption and maladministration) and the State Human Rights Commission (a quasi-judicial body that is mandated to redress grievances of violation of human rights) are functioning from Kurnool, to where the State High Court is planned to be shifted from its present location at Nelapadu in Guntur district.
In this context, the shifting of APERC to Kurnool is being seen as a politically-motivated decision, and that it is better to shift it to Amaravati / Vijayawada mainly due to its central location and superior connectivity.
