Tata Power expects to have 5 lakh customers by month-end

Private utility Tata Power, which claims to have the lowest power tariff in the city, expects to touch its customer base to 5 lakh by the month end, a senior company official has said.
The company currently has a consumer base of 4.7 lakh in the metropolis out of which 3.4 lakh are those consuming electricity up to 300 units.
"After the 2009 Supreme Court's order that allowed switchover of consumers, we have significantly added low-tension customers consuming up to 300 units. We expect to have 5 lakh consumers on our network by the end of the month," Tata Power's corporate operations management head Ashok Sethi said today.

Currently, for switchover consumers, the company charges Rs 2.13 per unit for those consuming up to 100 units and Rs 3.62 for customers below 300 units.
For changeover customers (those who have shifted from Reliance network), the tariff is Rs 2.11 for up to 100 units and Rs 4.1 per unit for up to 300 units.
Tata Power has so far added 300 km of cable network in the city and 42 substations, of which majority comes in the 11 clusters where the state regulator MERC has directed the company to expand its network.

The company is also undertaking steady network expansion within the city with a focus on 11 clusters since getting directions from MERC on August 22, 2012, Sethi said.

According to the order, the company has to have its own network to supply power to its existing as well as changeover customers and to reduce the dependence on Reliance's network for which Tata Power currently pays wheeling charges for utilising their network.
"We have tried our best to lay the network as per the MERC order, but were facing various challenges. However, we are sure we will soon be able to have network in all these 11 clusters," Sethi added.
From April 1, the tariffs for switchover customers up to 100 units will increase to Rs 2.49 per unit while for those using electricity up to 300 units, its tariff will be Rs 4.13. For changeover customers, the new tariff will be Rs 2.38 and Rs 4.45 for up to 100 units and 300 units, respectively.