Coronavirus crisis: Maharashtra Govt announces 8% cut in electricity tariff for 5 years
In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Maharashtra Govt has announced an average tariff cut of 8% for the next five years to alleviate the impact of the economic downturn on its consumers.
For consumers of private sector DISCOMs, industrial rates will be slashed 18-20%, commercial by 19-20% and residential by 10-11%.
For MSEDCL, excluding Mumbai, industrial rates will be slashed 10-12% while residential rates will be slashed 5-7%.
The DISCOMs will bear the cost of this tariff reduction.
Maharashtra: MERC rejects MSEDCL’s demand for a grid support charge
Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) had demanded a grid support charge (GSC) to be levied on Solar Rooftop consumers. MSEDCL’s proposal indicated a GSC of Rs 3.60-4.08 per unit for high tension (HT) consumers and upto Rs 8.60 per unit for low tension (LT) consumers. This would have made solar rooftop completely nonviable.
According to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulation Commission (MERC), the MSEDCL service area has a total solar rooftop capacity of 460MW, which is lagging significantly compared to the targets set by the state Govt. MERC has indicated that no GSC will be imposed till the capacity reaches 2000MW.
MERC has allowed for banking charges of 7.5% for HT and 12% for LT consumers. These will only be applicable if the consumer net exports power to the grid. Consumers will less than 10KW of solar rooftop capacity installed will be exempt from this banking charge.