There has been a reverse migration of 1,200 high-end power consumers from Tata Power to RInfra after the latter began implementing MERC's multi-year tariff order from September 1.
This was disclosed by RInfra officials after announcement of the quarterly results on Monday. A RInfra source said the 1,200 consumers comprised a combined load of around 130 MW and the migration took place over the past one-and-a-half months. RInfra has a total of 29 lakh customers in Mumbai.
A RInfra spokesperson said, "Consumers, accounting for 20% of power load, who had moved to Tata Power have switched back to RInfra. Our tariffs are most competitive across categories post the MERC order."
Reacting to this, Tata Power issued a statement that read: "The MERC through its order has approved RInfra multi-year tariff. The order has targeted a new changeover economics leading to higher cost for Tata Power distribution HT consumers (high-end) who have switched over, and lower tariffs for the residential category. As a result, the reverse migration is as conceptualized by the MERC."
A source said that major industries like L&T, Mahindra & Mahindra and other high-end users, including retail garment store chains, a couple of five-star hotels, film studios and two big malls in the suburbs, chose RInfra as a service provider.
"RInfra has commenced recovery of regulatory assets and cross-subsidy surcharge. The company has added 38,000 new consumers in its Mumbai Distribution business between April and September," said an official. "These additions are completely new to RInfra's consumer base and excluding those who have returned to RInfra from Tata Power Company."
"Another recent MERC order that made 9 lakh low-end consumers Tata Power's direct customers may put burden on its (Tata Power's) high-end consumers. This could further lead to reverse migration," said power expert Ashok Pendse said. Tata officials said they were studying this order.
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