Increase in power output and fall in tariffs make up the state’s wishlist for this year. Maharashtra needs another 4000 MW of power to be self-reliant in the sector but that is unlikely to happen any time soon this year. The shortfall has forced suppliers in the state to buy power from outside, jacking up prices, resulting in huge electricity bills that have led to a consumer backlash. The shortfall has also caused load-shedding across the state, except Mumbai.
Last year a debate began on introducing uniform tariffs in Mumbai, on the lines of Delhi and 2010 may see the it extended, but a conclusion seems unlikely on that front too. To introduce uniform tariff (average Rs 4 to 4.50 per unit) for over 39 lakh power consumers across greater
Mumbai region, the state government will have no choice but to shell out Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 crore as subsidy to the power suppliers —Reliance, Tata and BEST—estimates by power experts show. “If the government is prepared to gift around Rs 3500 crore to the suppliers at least for the next three years to bring uniformity in tariffs, as the state is expected to be power surplus only by 2013-end, the Mumbaikar’s average tariff would not go beyond Rs 4 per unit,’’ said a senior power expert with the states energy department. The average cost now comes to over Rs 6 per unit. But this seems an unlikely prospect.
“When government is unable to pay the subsidy of around Rs 1000 crore to farmers and power-looms in Maharashtra, the task of giving such a gift separately for Mumbai without any recovery through taxes seems difficult looking at the capabilities of the government’s coffers,’’ said Ashok Pendsay, a power expert and industrialist.
Pendsay and another MERC official said Delhi could experiment with the uniform tariff because the government has its say over the majority generation plants. “Delhi, due to ownership of generation, could allocate cheaper power to the areas where transmission and distribution (T&D) losses were more and expensive power to the areas where T&D losses were less to achieve the uniformity. This inter-exchange is possible in
Delhi and not in Mumbai as city has two different private power generators who will eventually object to such an arrangement,’’ they added. Uniform tariff thus remains a challenge.
Though the state has achieved success to a certain extent in reducing its power deficit from 5000 MW in 2008 to 3500 MW in 2009, there is still a long way to go. The state’s daily requirement comes to around 14,000 Mw against which state is generating only 11,500 MW. However, the addition of 1500 MW generation capacity in 2009 has reduced loadshedding by two hours across rural and urban areas.
Recently on Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (MERC) directives, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) has started acquiring power on long-term basis from outside sources and is providing it to the urban and rural areas of major districts, at an additional rate, to completely eliminate load-shedding in cities
like Amravati, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Pune. Reliance and BEST too have been procuring power on long-term basis to reduce the cost of each unit.
For over 27 lakh consumers in suburban Mumbai who depend on Reliance, the go-ahead to the company to expand its Dahanu power plant seems to be the only immediate solution to the crisis. Despite a recent move to allow Tata to distribute power among consumers, only around 10,000 consumers have switched over to Tata from Reliance.
Recently MERC allowed MSEDCL to charge around 30 paise per unit on over 1.5 lakh consumers across the state in order to pay its share of around Rs 900 crore in the establishment of Dabhol power plant.
Also several private projects proposed by Reliance, Tata Power, Adani in different parts of the state are facing opposition from the locals over land acquisition stalling the process of generation. People are also opposing to offer their lands for nuclear plant proposed in Jaitapur. Similarly, the growing prices and shortage of coal in the international market may make the power situation further grim.
