Now, consumers in island city can choose their own power distributor

Finally, those staying in the island city will have an option of choosing their power distributor apart from the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST). Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission has trashed the BEST undertaking’s petition to disallow Tata Power to supply in the island city. 

On January 22, MERC ruled against BEST that had sought restraining Tata Power (TPC) from rolling out its distribution network in the island city. The BEST in its petition had stated that TPC resorts to cherry-picking of consumers, especially the high-end ones.

The quasi-judicial body stated that there was no selective laying of network  by TPC to supply only high-end consumers. There were consumers who had switched over to TPC, including several residential consumers. 
Considering the foregoing discussion, the commission was of the view that BEST’s prayers were not tenable.

At present, BEST distributes power to 10 lakh consumers between Colaba-Mahim/Sion while TPC has a consumer base of over 5 lakh across Mumbai.

Since mid-2014, TPC has been supplying electricity to both residential and commercial consumers. Until then, TPC was a major bulk supplier to Indian Railways, mills and other consumers. In the last three years, this has had a major affect on the revenues of BEST in the supply division. 

The BEST had stated that five-star hotels in Parel, redeveloped mill land areas in south and central Mumbai where big restaurants and commercial offices have come up, multi-storied residential towers and societies were cherry-picked to maximize profits.