Bad news: MSEDCL consumers to pay more

Power consumers in Maharashtra, including parts of Mumbai will have to brace for higher power tariffs.

The state power regulators have allowed the state electricity distribution utility to recover an accumulated amount of Rs1,483 crore in fuel adjustment charges (FAC) from its consumers through monthly bills in six equal installments from June to November 2012.

The rate hike will be an average of 22 to 68 paise per unit for domestic consumers, 39 to 76 paise per unit for commercial low-tension consumers, 35 to 49 paise per unit for industrial low-tension consumers, 44 to 48 paise per unit for industrial high-tension consumers and for agricultural consumers, it will be 14 paise per unit for metered and Rs 21 per horse power per month for unmetered users.

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (MERC) order came on a petition filed by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), seeking review of the commission’s order for the recovery of the accumulated FAC amount. The Rs1,483 crore is to be recovered in six equal monthly installments — Rs247 crore will be the total monthly recovery amount.

“The commission also observes that the large amount of unrecovered FAC is causing very high burden on the distribution licensee, and consequentially on the generating company,” said the order, adding that the MahaVitaran’s tariff determination process was taking a long time. In the process, the utility was burdened with excessive charges towards meeting its power procurement expenditure.

“The commission is of the view that there are sufficient reasons to grant the present review of the impugned order. Therefore, the
commission allows the petitioner to recover an accumulated amount of around Rs1,483 crore from its consumers through
monthly energy bills in six equal installments, from June 2012 to November 2012,” said the order. The additional amount will be recovered proportionate to the tariff charged to consumers as per their respective category and slab.

The MahaVitaran has around 1.94 crore consumers of which around 74.01% (over 1.43 crore) belong to the domestic category.