Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam on Wednesday accused Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML) of “looting Mumbaikars” alleging that the electricity rates have doubled after Reliance Infrastructure sold its power distribution business to Adani Transmission in Mumbai.
Accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, Nirupam pointed out that the government has created this condition where private firms are looting the commoners.
Earlier in August, Reliance Infrastructure chairman Anil Ambani sold its Mumbai city power distribution business to Adani Transmission for ₹18,800 crore. Of the total ₹22,000 crore debts, this deal was supposed to repay the debts worth ₹13,800.
In August this year, Reliance Infrastructure signed ₹18,800 crore deal for sale of its Mumbai to Adani Transmission in order to pare its debts. The rest of the burden falls on the shoulders of the consumers. Why should we Mumbaikars always pay so that the PM and his favourite businessmen can continue to loot us?" asked Nirupam.
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The Mumbai Congress chief produced two electricity bills, one from the time when the power distribution was owned by Reliance Infrastructure and other from the current owner of the business.
Comparing the bills, Nirupam pointed out that the fixed charge has been increased from ₹55 per month to ₹60 for the "0-100" tariff category. The fixed charge for tariff categories, "101-300" and "301-500", has also been increased by ₹10 each. The Fuel Adjustment Charge Rate, Wheeling Charges, Energy Charges per unit have been increased too as per the documents produced by Sanjay Nirupam.
Earlier in December 2017, Nirupam wrote a letter to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) demanding whether they were about the business take over. Nirupam had earlier raised the issue that this power deal will result in inflation of electricity tariffs in the city.
While responding to Nirupam's allegations, an Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML) spokesperson said, "Electricity tariff rates are determined by Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) through a transparent process including the public hearing. In Mumbai, electricity consumption increases in the month of October due to higher ambient temperature. This year electricity consumption during October was higher by about 18 % over the preceding month(s). Consumers must compare October billing this year with October of last year rather, than Sept month of this year. This is to take into account the seasonal variations.”
Ridiculing Nirupam's allegations, the spokesperson further added, "We have checked billing patterns and no changes other than seasonal variation is foreseen. We welcome anyone to seek clarification on any billing issues and mail to us details of the pattern change and we would facilitate response."
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