MERC to review power tariff soon, says power minister

The Maharashtra government has taken several measures to lower electricity rates and soon state power regulatory commission MERC will review tariffs, state Power Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said today.
The government had taken several decisions to minimise the coal transport cost, distribution losses and to ensure procurement of quality coal for state-run power plants by introducing third-party sampling mechanism, he said.
Bawankule said state-run power plants were not getting good coal, which led to a dispute between Coal India and the Mahagenco.
But Coal India has now agreed to the proposal of testing coal samples at third-party laboratories, he said.
All these initiatives would lower the tariff, he claimed.

The government was also planning to revise the present power tariff, the minister said.

"We are working on it and by end of this month, the company (Mahagenco) will seek suggestions and no-objections from the customers before sending the recommendation to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC)," he said.
To a question, he said the state had proposed to reduce the open access surcharge by Rs 1.50 per unit for the industry in Vidarbha.
The government would also come out with a solar power policy and would encourage solar pumps for the agriculture which would help the farmers in the drought-affected areas, he said.