The following
article was published in The Times of India Mumbai on 4th October
2011 and may be of interest to readers of the blog.
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Your electricity
bill may fall if soc buys bulk power
Chittaranjan
Tembhekar | TNN
Mumbai: Your electricity bill could shrink if the housing society in which you live buys bulk power from a utility and then supplies it to you. Similarly, you may not have to approach the utility for every blackout, fault or damage as the society will take care of your grievances collectively. All this, thanks to a new system which allows the township, group or society in which you reside to collectively become a supplying franchisee of the utility. The system will work on the lines of the water charges system where people pay to the society, which, in turn, pays to the municipal authority.
In a landmark suo motu judgment, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) on Monday asked all power suppliers in the state, including those in Mumbai, to sign a franchise agreement with all aspiring residential colonies, commercial buildings, multiplexes, malls, townships and other single-point consumers such as the railways and the defence so that they can take care of supply in their areas. However, the franchisee will not be able to charge differently than the utility rates and must pay minimum charges equal to the present total billing from that particular society. Also, if any individual resident wants to retain direct supply, he can do so.
Bulk supply will come at a cheaper rate as individual consumption is higher. Similarly, charges recovered against distribution losses are also waived off in the bulk supply system. Utilities will now not be able to refuse a franchisee even if any developer or a group of consumers come forward to sign a franchisee agreement with the supplier.
“This will attract more and more townships and complexes to apply. There are more than 2 lakh such big societies in the metro region,” said a senior power expert closely associated with the MERC.
As per the MERC condition, the franchisee agreement should not be less than five years or longer than the validity of the licence period of the utility.
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