REL to accept one month bill as deposit

Reliance Energy has decided to accept security deposits from consumers amounting to one month's billing cycle as a part of the implementation of the order issued by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).

The one-month billing amount will be the average of last 12 months electricity consumption calculated as per the revised tariff, which came into effect from July 1.

The company had earlier decided to accept three months bills as the security deposit. This had, however, drawn ire from consumers and led to an MERC ruling on June 18 which restricted the security deposit to a one month billing.

The July electricity bill will include consumption for two months""June and July. The consumption in June will be charged as per the old tariff while the July consumption will be charged as per the revised tariff.

"In its commitment to offer cheaper power to consumers through its revised tariff structure, REL has made tariff applicable to its residential category telescopic in nature. This in turn means that consumers having high consumption would pay higher tariff only for the units in the higher slab and would be charged a lower tariff for consumption in the lower slabs," REL has said in a media release.

As per the revised tariff structure, fuel adjustment charge (FAC) has been merged with basic tariff and is applicable to all consumers. From now onwards FAC will reflect any increase or decrease in basic fuel prices from current levels.