After Delhi and Haryana, it’s Mumbai turn to face power politics, with electricity distribution companies at the receiving end of calls demanding a reduction in tariffs.
Tata Power said on Thursday that its tariff of Rs 3.62 for consumption of up to 300 units a month was the lowest in the country. Reliance Power already responded to the call earlier this week, detailing its position.
With an eye on the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, Congress MPs Sanjay Nirupam and Priya Dutt have demanded a tariff reduction. Nirupam has said that he would go on indefinite fast if his demand was not met. He has also written to the Chief Minister, questioning why Maharashtra could not lower tariff when the Aam Admi Party in Delhi had done so.
The Shiv Sena, too, has pitched in and has threatened to block collection centres of Reliance Infra if it did not heed its call.
40 LAKH USERS Tata Power, Reliance Infra and the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (part of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation), distribute electricity to over 40 lakh consumers in the city, of which about 70 per cent are those whose monthly consumption is below 300 units.
Tata Power has a consumer base of 4.5 lakh, with the below 300 unit consumers totalling 2.94 lakh. Reliance Infra has a base of 25 lakh, with about 19 lakh at the lower end and BEST about 11 lakh consumers, with the lower end consumers totalling 6.5 lakh.
Tata Power said the unit cost of electricity (for 250 units) in Ahmedabad was Rs 4.50, Rs 4.45 in Bangalore , Rs 3.60 in Chennai, 4.28 in Delhi, Rs 4.64 in Hyderabad and Rs 5.76 in Kolkata. In Mumbai, Tata Power’s unit cost is 3.02, Reliance Infra is 5.68 and BEST is 4.52.
APEX COURT A few days ago, Reliance Infra had responded to Nirupam’s demand, stating that tariffs are fixed by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) and it has no hand in it. RInfra also pointed out that the Supreme Court had ruled that determination of tariff should be left to the expert body (MERC) and, in general, the high court and even apex court should not interfere with it.
Further, RInfra said that the regulatory asset charge (RAC) was the past arrears revenue gap approved by the Commission. The RAC recovery had been deferred for the future by the Commission to avoid tariff shocks.
RInfra went to on to say that all the meters (including Chinese ones) procured and installed by the company comply with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) norms. In addition, procurement of power from the Dahanu Thermal Power Station, as also additional purchases of power from other sources, had the approval of the Commission.
shanker.s@thehindu.co.in