BEST gets nod for power tariff hike

With the state power regulators allowing the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) to recover Rs443.58 crore from its consumers, the island city may have to foot a steeper power bill in the near future.

This is the first time that the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has allowed BEST to recover the deficit incurred from its transport operations from power consumers.

The MERC order on a petition filed by the BEST, seeking an approval of truing up for financial year 2009-10 and provisional truing-up for 2010-11, came after a Supreme Court judgment in this regard.

The BEST had submitted that the truing up of financial year 2009-10 had caused a revenue gap of Rs683.38 crore, while that of 2010-11 had led to a provisional revenue gap of Rs217.82 crore, thus taking the cumulative revenue gap for 2009-10 and 2010-11 to an estimated Rs901.20 crore. However, the MERC has now approved a revenue gap of Rs 443.58 crore.

The MERC had disallowed the deficit of the transport division of the BEST as part of the annual revenue requirement (ARR) of 2004-05 and 2005-06, which was upheld by the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity. The BEST had filed an appeal before the SC against these orders and judgements.

When contacted, a senior BEST official said they were studying the order and added that the hike had been incorporated in the tariff petition for the utility which has been filed before the MERC. “We will try and ensure that consumers do not face a tariff shock, but a small hike in tariffs is inevitable,” he added.