29 May,2009 07:45 AM IST | | Shashank Rao
City will have to pay more for electricity from next month
Mumbaikars will face the heat next month despite an early monsoon prediction. Two of the main power suppliers of the city RInfra and BEST have proposed hikes in power tariffs. While RInfra wants to increase the rates by 30 per cent, BEST is asking for an increase of 45 per cent. The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) is expected to announce the new tariffs for Mumbai by June 10.
A spokesperson for Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra), which supplies power to suburban Mumbai, confirmed, "The new tariff is expected to be out soon."
Said a senior BEST official, "People have started accepting the hike even though it has not been levied."
The new tariff would have been implemented from April had it not been for the Lok Sabha elections. Now that the code of conduct has been lifted, MERC is considering the proposals from the power companies.
Brief respite
Meanwhile, satellite cities like Navi Mumbai, Thane and the rest of Maharashtra will have their new tariffs by July. The delay is due to the yet unresolved matter of load shedding in Thane and Navi Mumbai, which the MERC is yet to resolve. The spokesperson for Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd, which has proposed an electricity tariff hike of 28 per cent, confirmed that the new tariffs would be out only by July.
