 "Maharashtra offers relief in industry tariff in less developed regions")
Existing industry consumers and new investors investing in the less developed Vidarbha, Marathwada, north Maharashtra and backward areas of western Maharashtra will now get relief in power tariff.
The government has already made budgetary allocation of Rs 1,011 crore to provide subsidy to the state run MahaVitaran to compensate its loss. The reduction in tariff will be done by offering load factor incentive and cut in the fuel adjustment cost.
The tariff will be reduced by Rs 1.25 to Rs 1.75 per unit in Vidarbha from where the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis hails while Rs 1.50 in Marathwada and 50 paise to Re 1 in north Maharashtra and backward areas of western Maharashtra.
The decision in this regard was taken by a cabinet sub committee chaired by state energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule. It will be made effective from April 1 this year and will be applicable up to 2018-19.
However, due to the strong objections raised by couple of ministers citing regulatory hurdles, the cabinet sub committee refrained from recommending fixing tariff at Rs 4.25-4.50 per unit for certain category to compete with Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Telangana.
The government's move aimed at the dispersal of industrial investment in less and backward regions and also curb the migration of existing industrial consumers to other states due to higher power tariff.
The state industries department had made a strong case for reduction in industry tariff which ranges between Rs 8.23 and Rs 13 per unit. The industries department had pointed out that it has been quite higher compared to other states including Karnataka (Rs 6.80), Gujarat (Rs 6), Goa (Rs 4.80) and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 6.70).
Meanwhile, the state government has taken a decision to impose electricity duty on open access transactions by bring in the Maharashtra State Electricity Duty Act, 2016. The decision was taken at a time when the industry consumers are opting for power drawal through open access citing higher tariff.
The consumers opting for open access will now have to pay electricity duty to the state as a percentage of their monthly bill as per their category.
Residential consumers will have to pay 16%, commercial consumers will have to pay 21%, while those in the industries category will have to pay 9.3%. Cinema houses will be charged 19%.