Chhattisgarh curtails power tariff for industry, Maharashtra gets shock

Chhattisgarh government’s decision to reduce power tariff for industry had allegedly come as a shock for the secondary steel makers in neighbouring state of Maharashtra.
 

Following the fall in demand and high running cost, over 100 mini steel plants in Chhattisgarh had cut short the production over last many months that finally culminated in complete shut down on August 1. The mini steel plants across Chhattisgarh remained close for over a fortnight before the state government announced to curtail power tariff for the industry.
 

The annual production output from secondary steel makers in the state had been about 4 million tonnes (MT). Of which, about 25 per cent steel is consumed in the state’s domestic market. Since, the steel makers were not fulfilling the domestic demand, steel from Maharashtra started coming to the local market.
 

“When the local industrialists gave presentation to the state government for bringing down power tariff, they cited that steel from Maharashtra was capturing the Chhattisgarh market that had posed threat for their survival,” a senior state government official told Business Standard.
 

The average per unit power tariff for the industry was reduced by Rs 1.40 per unit and would remain effective till March 2017. The industrialists had demanded that power tariff for the mini steel plant should be reduced to Rs 4 per unit as against the existing tariff of Rs 6.50 to Rs 9 (for different sections of the industrial consumers.

"Even a relief of Rs 1.40 per unit was big enough for the ailing units to restart production," Anil Nachrani, Chhattisgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s President for Industrial Wing, had said.

The relief for the industries in Chhattisgarh had not gone well with the Maharashtra unit as the supply had reportedly come to a stop. Though the industrialists in Maharashtra could not be contacted, the local steel makers said the supply from the neighbouring state had fallen considerably.