News Detail

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">State government has admitted that the power tariff won&#39;t go down from July 2013 level as it claimed on January 20. A government resolution (GR) issued on January 29 states that the monthly subsidy of INR 706 crore was to offset the proposed tariff hike demanded by MSEDCL.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Expectedly, this fact is being kept away from consumers. The GR is not available on state government&#39;s website www.maharashtra.gov.in. Nowadays every GR is uploaded the same day or at the most next morning. Many are uploaded as soon as they are issued.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Sources in MSEDCL said that the company has filed a petition in Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) seeking to recover INR 9,296 crore from consumers with effect from April 1. &quot;This will increase the tariff by 20% and the subsidy of INR 706 crore will help us offset the hike,&quot; a top official said.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">He explained that the hike was only to recover old dues. &quot;The Commission has not allowed a tariff hike, which has made it difficult to run the company,&quot; he said.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Of the INR 9,296 crore, INR 6,945 crore is the under-recovery of 2011-12 and 2012-13. In addition, MSEDCL wants another INR 1,300 crore as interest on this under-recovery in two years. The company has also demanded INR 1,051 crore as interest on under-recovery in past ten years.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">The amount of under-recovery is so high because MERC had rejected MSEDCL&#39;s interim petition to increase tariff in July 2013. The reason was that there were several discrepancies in MSEDCL data, which the company was unable to explain.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Ashish Chandrana, a consumer representative, had obtained information under RTI which showed that the distribution loss reduction claimed by the company was questionable. This still remains to be answered and hence it is not clear as to how MSEDCL tariff petition will be approved.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Consumer activist Pratap Hogade has sought clarification from state government as to how the INR 706 crore amount will prevent tariff hike. &quot;MSEDCL will recover INR 290 crore every month through two surcharges AEC 2 and AEC 4 (part). If MERC allows the company to recover INR 9,296 crore, it comes to INR 775 crore monthly. The total is INR 1,065 crore against a subsidy of INR 706 crore. The arithmetics must be explained,&quot; he said.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Source-On Request</span></span></span></p>