Miffed with hike,consumers burn electricity bills

The order of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) in September to recover

Rs 3,685.51 crore from consumers has upset them as they have been forced to pay an average Rs 1.25 for every unit of extra consumption. The rate of electricity — be it for the domestic or industrial consumers — has shot up by 25 per cent .

Velankar said the rate of electricity per unit has gone up by Rs 1.50 owing to MSEDCL’s inefficiency in generating power.

Hogade said they will submit a memorandum of demands to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. The electricity rates in neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are reasonable as against Maharashtra,which has inflated the cost of electricity. “Corruption is the reason for such a hike and why should the consumer bear the brunt,” he added.

The activists want the state government to put a stay on power tariff hike with immediate effect and set up an inquiry committee to find out the reason leading to 25 per cent hike. “When private players are ready to offer power at reasonable rates than MSEDCL,we should have a choice to avail it from them. Or else MSEDCL should rollback its decision on power tariff hike ,” the activists demanded.