Ashok Chavan promises to remedy suburb-city power tariff divide

Discriminating against suburban consumers as far as power tariffs are concerned may not be a politically smart move for the ruling Congress-NCP alliance. The matter was discussed in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, where concern was expressed about the impact this may have on the municipal elections scheduled for 2012. Chief minister Ashok Chavan took cognisance of the issue and said he would look into it.

The guardian minister for Mumbai’s suburbs, Naseem Khan, raised the issue in the meeting. He read out the rates, illustrating the difference. He told the cabinet that suburban consumers, who are paying almost double tariff, are unhappy about the difference.
For usage up to 100 units, BEST consumers in the island city pay Rs1.55 per unit, while RInfra (Reliance Infrastructure Ltd) consumers in the suburbs pay Rs2.96. For usage between 100 and 300 units, BEST consumers pay Rs3.30 per unit against suburban consumers’ Rs5.56. The discrepancy in the tariff rate was admitted to by Khan’s cabinet colleagues.

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) ordered a 15% reduction in tariff for the island city. This has only enhanced the difference.

Energy minister Ajit Pawar expressed his inability to bring uniformity in the rates. He said the rates are set by MERC and that there is hardly anything the state government can do in this regard.

But Khan said that the government has the right to intervene and set the order aside.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has said his party will oppose the proposed power tariff hike by RInfra. He threatened to launch an agitation if the hike is implemented.

RInfra, obviously, maintains that the tariff hike has been proposed by MERC, the final decision resting with the government body.
Thackeray alleged that although the state government has given permission to the Tata Power Company (TPC) to generate 100MW of power, the city will not benefit as the power is being provided to other states.

“We are buying power at a much higher rate from other states,” said Thackeray, pointing out that RInfra’s rates are higher than those of BEST and TPC.

Last year, after the power tariff hike, the Sena had asked consumers to not pay bills, and followed this up with violent protests. This led MERC to put a stay on the hike.