MERC okays reliability charges for Pune users

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has okayed collection of 42 paise per unit as reliability charges (RC) from consumers in Pune to ensure that, they get the 24x7 power supply.

However, the commission has excluded all domestic consumers whose consumption is less than 300 units per month and directed Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) to implement the proposal within seven days.

As Puneiites were facing two to three hours load shedding, CII came up with the proposal that captive capacity of the industrial units around the Pune can be used to ensure that Pune gets a round the clock power supply.

Taking a cue from CII's proposal MSEDCL prepared a detailed report and submitted MERC for it's approval.

The MSEDCL estimated that, considering shortage of 100 mw per hour and running of captive power plants (CPP)'s for 10 hours in the day, and considering 20 per cent Transmission & distribution loss and variable cost at peak hours at Rs 3.65 a unit, it will have to pay around Rs 266 crore to CPPs to get additional power and hence MSEDCL will require to collect additional 84 paisa per unit from the consumers.

However, after taking into consideration the suggestion and objections of various citizens groups and others and studying the economic rationale of the entire scheme, the commission found that it can allow MSEDCL to collect only 42 paisa from consumers as RC, excluding domestic consumers.

Besides, the commission's order also says that, even after implementation of the scheme, if an incidence of power shutdown takes place in Pune, consumers should report the incident to power regulator within three days of such incident taking place.