The ‘reforms’ brought by MeECL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Arunkumar Kembhavi by introducing ‘special power tariff’ for industries in Byrnihat is hitting MeECL hard.
According to sources, the special tariff was given to the group of industries under the banner of Byrnihat Industries Association (BIA).
The special tariff policy has adversely affected the financial revenue flow to the MeECL as crores of rupees that have to come to the MeECL’s coffer were discontinued because of such unjustified reform.
The reforms on tariff for the Byrnihat industries were initiated by Kembhavi in October 2020.
It may be recalled that in the early part of 2020, the Meghalaya Power Distribution Company Limited (MePDCL), a subsidiary of the MeECL, had filed a petition with the Meghalaya State Electricity Regulatory Commission (MeSERC) to enhance the electricity tariff for all consumers for the year 2020-21 so as to enable the MePDCL to meet the Annual Revenue Requirement.
The MePDCL in its petition had proposed to hike the tariff for the industries from Rs 6.60 per unit to Rs 9.55 per unit.
The MeSERC did not approve the petition filed by the MePDCL and the existing tariff of Rs 6.60 per unit continues without enhancement along with the demand charge/fixed charge of Rs 230 per KVA per month.
Surprisingly, after six months, during the month of October 2020, the MePDCL had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Byrnihat Industries Association (BIA) for the sale of power at lower price, from Rs 6.60 per unit to Rs 4.90 per unit. Moreover, the demand charge/fixed charge of Rs 230 per KVA per month has been waived, which means that there was no more demand charge/fixed charge for the industries.
The special tariff has been effective from November 1, 2020 and the order for the same had been notified by the MeSERC on October 19, 2020.
The contentious issue and the question that arises is why MeECL/MePDCL had petitioned to the MeSERC to hike the tariff for industries from Rs 6.60 to Rs 9.55 per unit, but suddenly after a gap of six months the MePDCL entered into an MOU with the Byrnihat Industries Association to reduce the tariff from Rs 6.60 to Rs 4.90 per unit with total waiving on the demand charge/fixed charge.
After the special tariff reforms for industries has been rolled out, the loss of revenue to the MeECL stands at approximately Rs 4.31 crore per month, considering the average power consumption of 18 Million Units per month by the industries under the Byrnihat Industries Association.
Based on the unprecedented loss of crores of rupees per month, people felt that such a deal is dubious and detrimental to the MeECL.
This will undoubtedly have wide ramifications on the fragile financial position of the MeECL and such unethical reforms would further cripple and weaken the MeECL financially.
Recently, Power Minister James Sangma in had justified the “reforms” in the MeECL and that some vested interests are uncomfortable with the
