Island city users can get cheaper power from Tata

If you live in the island city you can now save between 20-50% in your monthly electricity bills if you switch to Tata Power Company. Dharmendra Jore reports.

If you live in the island city you can now save between 20-50% in your monthly electricity bills if you switch to Tata Power Company.

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The savings will be significant for commercial establishments, as their existing tariff is much higher.

However, Tata will have to set up its own network to get new consumers connected.

Currently, power is supplied to the island city by two utilities — BEST (BrihanMumbai Electricity Supply and Transport undertaking) and Tata Power.

Tata will not be able to use the BEST network in the island city because the latter has got local civic authority status, which bars it from carrying the supply of other utilities by charging wheeling fees.

In the suburbs, Tata currently uses Reliance’s network to supply migrated consumers who pay wheeling charges. High-end consumers also pay a cross-subsidy surcharge to Reliance Infrastructure to help it subsidise the tariff for economically weaker sections.

Last year, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Comm-ission (MERC) asked Tata to supply power to the commercial establishments of a hotelier in the island city, Guruprasad Shetty, and other commercial establishments, within a year.

The BEST moved the Supreme Court challenging the MERC’s jurisdiction. The apex court referred the matter to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (ATE).

The ATE resolved the issue on April 4, telling BEST that the order was about promoting competition and protecting consumer interests.

A senior officer BEST officer who did not wish to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, told HT that the company would move the Supreme Court again.

Tata officials said they would issue a statement today.