Anil’s power firm under scanner for hiking tariff

All financial transactions in the past five years made by the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Infrastructure, which supplies electricity to suburban Mumbai, will be examined.

All financial transactions in the past five years made by the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Infrastructure, which supplies electricity to suburban Mumbai, will be examined.

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Following Reliance Infra’s steep hike in power tariffs, the state government had asked the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) to enquire into the company’s power business model. The MERC has now appointed the Hyderabad-based Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) to check the company’s transactions and submit a report by the end of the year.

MERC wants to know how much Reliance Infra – which has several other businesses - has spent on its power distribution segment. The probe will focus on the company’s sharp increase in capital investment, which it had stated as a reason for the hike in tariff.