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Aping the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, the Congress-led Maharashtra government on Monday approved a 20 per cent cut in power tariff for all categories of consumers – domestic, agriculture and industry – of the state-run Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MahaVitaran).
The decision is not applicable to Mumbai consumers who get power supply from private distribution companies – Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure and BrihanMumbai Electric Supply & Transport.
The tariff cut will lead to an additional financial burden of Rs 706 crore a month on MahaVitaran. The state government will provide Rs 606 crore, while the balance Rs 100 crore will be shared by MahaVitaran and Maharashtra State Transmission Company (MahaTransco). The annual burden will be Rs 8,472 crore.This is in addition to the present annual subsidy of Rs 10,500 crore provided to agricultural consumers and Rs 1,100 crore to powerlooms. Of this, MahaVitaran cross-subsidises industry and commercial consumers worth Rs 6,500 crore; the balance is contributed by the state government.
Of MahaVitaran’s 21.4 million consumers, 14.3 million are residential, 3.7 million agricultural, 1.47 million commercial and 3,70,000 industrial of which 12,000 are high-tension power consumers, with a monthly consumption of 1 Mw or above. A senior minister, who did not want to be identified, told Business Standard: ''The cabinet gave its nod based on the recommendations made by a committee headed the industries minister Narayan Rane. MahaVitaran will approach the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission, seeking its approval.''
The minister admitted that there was huge pressure from all sections, especially after the AAP government reduced 50 per cent tariff for residential consumers with monthly consumption of 400 units in Delhi.
According to the state cabinet's decision, a high-tension industrial power consumer drawing power from an express feeder will have to pay Rs 7.01 a unit against the present tariff of Rs 8.61 a unit, while a non-express feeder high-tension power user will have to pay Rs 6.33 a unit against Rs 7.83 a unit.
For residential consumers with 0 to 100 units, the tariff has been reduced to Rs 3.36 per unit from Rs 4.16 a unit, for 100 to 300 units Rs 6.05 a unit from Rs 7.42 a unit. Various industry bodies had protested against the high power tariff, which they claimed was 20 to 50 per cent higher than that in states such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
For low-tension industrial consumers, the tariff has been cut to Rs 5.06 from Rs 6.17 (0 to 20 kw) and for 20 kw and above Rs 7.01 from Rs 8.76 per unit. As far as powerlooms are concerned, per unit tariff has been reduced to Rs 5.66 from Rs 7.26.
The per unit tariff for high-tension commercial consumers on express feeders has been cut to Rs 10.45 a unit from Rs 12.86 a unit and for non-express feeders, it fell to Rs 9.83 a unit from Rs 12.11 a unit.
Indian Merchants' Chamber president Shailesh Vaidya said, "The reduction in tariff must have an economic rationale. Any populist measure which does not stand the scrutiny of commercial logic will not be good for the state in the long run.''
For tension agriculture consumers the tariff has been lowered to 92 paise a unit from Rs 1.57. In the case of low-tension agriculture consumers (0-30 horse power with meter) the tariff is reduced to 55 paise a unit from Rs 1.03, for 3 horse power with meter to 85 paise a unit from Rs 1.33 per unit.
The un-metered low-tension agriculture consumers will also benefit as the tariff for 0 to 3 horse power consumption, the tariff has been cut to 85-94 paise a unit from Rs 1.3-1.54 per unit, for three to five horse power to Rs 1.01-1.10 from Rs 1.29-1.70 per unit and for five horse power and above to Rs 1.19-1.29 from Rs 1.47-Rs 1.89 per unit.
