Maharashtra deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde, who holds the energy portfolio, yesterday stayed Tata Electric Companies' (TEC) tariff hike in Mumbai.
Munde has appointed a committee under energy secretary Asoke Basak to look into the hike, which was necessitated because of an increase in cost of power purchases from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and other expenses of TEC.
TEC supplies power to the Bombay Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking which caters to the island city. As the Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply (BSES) is now generating its own power at the Dahanu power station and requires standby facilities from TEC, the TEC proposes to levy standby charges in the same proportion levied on it by MSEB. According to TEC, the actual increase in the tariff works out to 4.5 per cent (Rs 36 crore for BEST) and not 22 per cent (Rs 146 crore) as alleged in various reports.