Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) will on November 13 hear a petition filed by industries against illegal bills issued by MSEDCL in September. Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) too has filed the petition on behalf of all industrial associations in Vidarbha.
MERC in August had allowed MSEDCL to levy six surcharges from September. However, MSEDCL levied them in August bills itself in violation of Commission's order. In spite of protests by industrialists, MSEDCL did not provide any relief. The surcharges have increased electricity bills by 20%.
The industrialists have contended that while it does not matter to residential and commercial consumers whether they start paying surcharges from August or September, industries had suffered heavy losses. The reason is that industries had fixed the price of their goods on the basis of power tariff prevailing in August. Had they known the power rates would increase by 20% they would have increased price accordingly. However, they had sold their products at lower prices in August but the input cost had increased which caused them losses.
Nineteen industries and VIA have filed similar petition and hence MERC has clubbed them. They have demanded that the Commission should register case against MSEDCL officials under Section 142 & 146 of Electricity Act for violating MERC's directives. An organization or official convicted under these sections can be fined up to Rs 1 lakh.
The industries have also prayed that MSEDCL be directed to issue corrected bill for August 2013 without surcharges. They have also demanded that only three surcharges instead of six should be levied in September and corrected bills for this month should also be issued. All consumers should be refunded excess amount with interest.
This is the first step by industries and consumers to fight high handed behaviour of MSEDCL. They also plan to challenge MERC's order on six surcharges in Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (ATE) and lodge a complaint against MSEDCL in Competition Commission of India for misusing its power in a monopoly situation.
Many industrialists had earlier decided not to pay August bills but this was opposed by textile industries and this form of protest was dropped. Now the industries are concentrating on legal measures and taking up the issue with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. The industrialists have also joined hands with other consumers to expose MSEDCL and Mahagenco. MSEDCL's inflation of farmers' bills has become a major embarrassment for the distributor while Genco is at pains to explain its extremely high cost of generation.
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