For next few months, pay Rs 150 more for power

Mahavitaran to charge consumers for buying power at higher rate in September-October last year.

Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL or Mahavitaran) is set to charge consumers an extra Rs 150 per month to cover costs of power purchased from power exchange in September and October last year, when there was shortage in the state.

Owing to non-availability of coal in the months after monsoon season last year, some plants of state-owned power generation utility Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Ltd. (Mahagenco) remained shut; the combined capacity of these plants was 1,700 MW. The normal daily demand for the state is 18,000 MW, which touched 21,000 MW per day in these months. Even independent power producers like Rattan India and Adani Power could not meet their contractual obligations to Mahavitaran, which was consequently forced to buy 92 crore units at the rate of Rs 5.28 per unit from the power exchange in September 2018.

Mahavitaran also bought 137 crore units at the rate of Rs 6.21 per unit in October 2018.

The average purchase cost of Mahavitaran is Rs 4.10 per unit. The purchase of power from the power exchange resulted in the additional burden of Rs 350 crore, which the power distributor is recovering from consumers in the April 2019 power bills.

A senior Mahavitaran official said, “The only choices we had was to either order power cuts or buy power from wherever possible with permission of the state regulator. We exercised the second option.” He further said, “The impact on power bills due to purchase from the exchange will last for only few months as Mahagenco is now importing coal to keep its plants running.”

Pratap Hogade, president of Maharashtra State Power Consumer Association, told Mirror, “I fail to understand if Mahavitaran’s total power purchase bill is within the prescribed limit laid down by MERC. And also why are higher charges being imposed on consumers?”