A three-member bench of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has ruled in favour of Lloyds Steel Industries Ltd (LSIL) which sought directions against the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) regarding improper application of tariff.
While responding to the point of demotivation for industrial units due to the definition of 'billing demand' as contained in clause(b) of para 46.3 of the MERC tariff order released in April this year, the bench noted that the issue was under the active consideration of the commission.
The order in a separate review petition was expected shortly and would be in line with the MERC's desire to help industrial consumers to shift their demand to off-peak hours, thus flattening the demand curve for energy, the bench observed.
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The bench, comprising P Subrahmanyam as chairman besides Venkat Chary and Jayant Deo as members, directed MSEB to revise the energy bills charged from LSIL for the period between May 1 and May 19 this year using the 'pro-rata' principle as had been used while computing the billing for the period between April 24 and April 30.
"The base tariff should be used as per the new tariff and night-time concession should be given at the new rate for this period," the quasi-judicial body held.
The dispute between LSIL and MSEB arose over the tariff order passed by MERC on April 28 which was applicable to various categories of consumers of the electricity board.
LSIL, which has its manufacturing unit in Wardha district of Maharashtra, with a contract demand of 90 MVA from MSEB (consumer no.5100191332), sought MERC's direction to MSEB for correcting inaccurate bills which were not reflecting the provisions of the tariff order given by MERC.
LSIL pleaded that even in the light of the existing provisions for determination of billing demand, MSEB had billed them on the basis of maximum billing demand recorded in February 2000 for eleven months though the same were recorded during night hours.
However, on the point of continuing night-time concessions sought by the petitioner in addition to the rebate given through time of day (TOD) tariff as determined by MERC in its tariff order of April, the commission felt LSIL had no case whatsoever.
"The commission has clarified that it had determined the tariff for all the consumers and had extended night-time concession with slight modifications through TOD tariff to consumers, including LSIL. There is absolutely no case in respect of continuance of the rebate.