In recent developments, the state government of Maharashtra is likely to provide some amount of relief to several consumers who have complained about the inflated bills during the coronavirus induced lockdown.
On Wednesday, July 29, Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister, officials from the state power department, along with officials from the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), discussed how relief can be provided to the agitated consumers. Moreover, a draft proposal has been sent to MERC which once cleared by the regulator will be tabled at the cabinet meeting next week.
In the past, several consumers, from middle-class citizens to Bollywood celebrities, of Tata Power, Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML), the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking, and the State-run Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited (MSEDCL), had demanded an answer for the hike in power bills. In some cases, the bills were for more than ₹10,000. The city of Mumbai has nearly 32 lakh residential power consumers and around eight lakh commercial consumers.
Although the power companies have retaliated stating that the high electricity bills are mostly because power utilities have been able to check meter readings in June after over two months, the bills are unusually high given that the power consumption was the same earlier in several households.
This new announcement, however, has been called vague by several consumers, further questioning the method the agency would adopt in order to calculate the specific power consumption. If the consumers end by getting a subsidy, it will be a first as so far, it had only been reserved for the agricultural sector and the power loom.
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