Pune AMID tight security, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) conducted a daylong public hearing at the Council Hall to take into account 157 objections made to the proposed tariff hike by the power utility Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL).
MERC chairman V P Raja presided over the meeting where people voiced their objections for about an hour. The objections were from individuals, besides associations representing industries, hospitals, educational institutions and hotels. There were also some NGOs like Prayas, Sajag Grahak Manch that said the proposal to increase tariff for 2009-10 by 36.6 per cent was not justified.
Prayas Energy Group representatives told the commission members that there was an incorrect accounting of revenue by the MSEDCL and that the overall revenue gap was Rs 2,300 crore and not Rs 9,578 crore as being projected. Almost all who spoke against the hike were in agreement on this point.
The MSEDCL has worked out an average tariff hike of 36.6 per cent of which 4.43 per cent would be refunded to consumers under various heads. The MERC had invited suggestions and objections and public hearings were conducted at Amravati, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Nashik. The hearing in Pune went on till the late hours of Monday evening. The next hearing will be on July 1 in Navi Mumbai.
Even as MSEDCL officials gave an account of their peak demand shortfall in the state, major works for 119 projects approved and achievement made in reducing loadshedding, the power utility was pulled up for “inefficient service”.
According to Pratap Hogade from the Maharashtra Rajya Veej Grahak Sanghatana, the tariff hike was exaggerated and not factual.
Industrial consumers are heavily burdened despite MSEDCL incurring least transmission and distribution losses and getting prompt payment from these consumers, alleged a representative of Tata Motors that had also filed the objection.
The Association of Hospitals in Pune and educational institutions urged the MERC not to categorise them as high-tension (HT) line consumers and fix the earlier rates. Educational institutions like the University of Pune and Symbiosis too have objected to MSEDCL pitting them in the commercial category and levying higher bills.
Aggrieved members of the farming community like Manohar Shinde from the Go-Ka-Ka Sahkari Pani Puravatha Sanstha from Karad said that small farmers were affected as the MSEDCL categorised them in the higher bracket. Members from the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture and the Confederation of Indian Industries too opposed the hike. MERC members A Velayutham, S B Kulkarni and secretary P B Patil apart from the MSEDCL officials of the Pune division were present at the hearing.
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