Journalism of Courage
The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) on Monday approved a petition filed by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) seeking recovery of Rs 1,483 crore from consumers against the hike in Fuel Adjustment Charges (FAC) owing to fluctuations in coal,oil and gas prices over the years.
MERCs order,displayed on its website,has also allowed the power utility to collect upto 10 per cent FAC above tariff. It is also likely that the present 10 per cent cap on FAC will increase. However,beyond this cap,permission of MERC will be required to avoid any sudden hike in electricity bill.
MSEDCL officials at the Mumbai headquarters said the tariff will increase for only six months. The residential consumers will face a tariff hike of 22-68 paise per unit,while it will be 39-76 paise per unit for commercial consumers.
In the industrial sector,the hike will be upto 49 paise per unit,and for agriculture consumers it will be 10-21 paise per unit.
Activists point out that there was a considerable delay by MERC in giving the nod for the recovery process. The consumers tariff burden would not have increased by 22-68 paise if the power utility had been allowed to recover the FAC.
