Don’t buy power from Mahagenco: Consumers

Nagpur: With frequent increase in power tariff, consumers are no longer in a mood to indulge state power generator Mahagenco. During a hearing organized by MERC on power tariff hike at Vanamati on Wednesday, a large number of consumers demanded that MSEDCL cancel the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Mahagenco and buy the cheapest power available in the market.
There were allegations that MSEDCL had recovered excess fuel surcharge (FAC) from consumers and that MSEDCL’s agricultural consumption figures were questionable. All consumers demanded that MERC should not allow MSEDCL to increase power tariff, which was the highest in the country.
Ashish Chandarana of Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) said that the PPAs with generators should be renegotiated by allowing them to sell power to third parties and reduce proportionate capacity charges. “The Mahagenco units whose tariff is above Rs5 per unit should be made to go for economical shutdown so that MSEDCL does not have to pay capacity charges,” he added.
Chandarana further said that FAC was being levied in a wrong manner causing it to fluctuate wildly. “MSEDCL purchased power from many old Mahagenco units without MERC’s permission and then recovered this expenditure through FAC instead of tariff fixation process. Moreover, FAC should be levied on the basis of the consumption of a particular month and not on the basis of power consumed three months down the line,” he added.
VIA also questioned the farm pump power consumption figures cited by MSEDCL. When number of unmetered consumers were reducing due to installation of meters, how their consumption had gone up, Chandarana questioned.
Arun Agrawal, representing individual consumer Anil Wadpalliwar, pointed out that in 2014-15, MSEDCL had purchased 3,065 MU on short-term basis and in 2015-16, up to February 2016, 1,276 MU had been bought. If MSEDCL was power surplus why did it resort to short-term power purchase, Agrawal said. Moreover, this was done at costs higher than average billing rate. He also demanded that costly power purchase from Mahagenco be immediately discontinued.
Credai representative AP Ganguly suggested that power purchase from Mahagenco be reduced gradually and in the first year the reduction should be 10%. “In the long run, Mahagenco should be made to compete with other power producers,” he said. Devendra Godbole of Prahar too said that Mahagenco’s costly power should not be purchased. “Politicians and their kin are contractors in the company and hence its power is costly. Moreover, its capital expenditure is very high,” he added. Madhusudan Rungta of Chandrapur MIDC Industries Association charged that MSEDCL had collected Rs2,823 crore excess FAC from consumers.
The hearing was conducted by MERC members Aziz Khan and Deepak Lad and secretary Ashwini Kumar. In the beginning, MSEDCL director (operations) Abhijit Deshpande made a presentation on behalf of MSEDCL and explained the need for the power tariff hike.