Industry cries foul over Mahavitaran's new billing system

The industry in the state which is struggling to normalise operations after lockdown restrictions were relaxed has literally got the shock as it got bills which are three or four times more than its normal bill.

The consumer organisations are alleging that, these inflated bills have come due to change in billing system which was implemented by the state power distribution utility Mahavitran Ltd. without proper preparations.

The state power regulator Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) allowed change in billing system for High Tension (HT) consumers from beginning of the new financial year. Earlier all consumers in including HT consumers are charged on kilowatt hour (Kwh) basis , however since April this year it was changed to Kilovolt Ampere hour (KvAh) for HT consumers.

Speaking with Mirror Pratap Hogade president of Maharashtra State Power Consumers Association said, “After shifting to new system, HT consumers are getting four to five times more bill than their normal bills. This is all because Mahavitaran implemented the new system without making changes in its system.”

He pointed out a unit called Rainbow Deco Plas Pvt. Ltd. from Ambad industrial estate in Nashik which received a bill of Rs.2.37 lakhs in month of March received the bill of Rs.7.97 lakh in month of April despite industry being closed due to lockdown.”

Similarly an industrial unit from Sangli whose consumption was 7595 units in March under new system received a bill for 37,650 units and got five times bill, Hogade pointed out.

The HT consumers are backbone of Mahavitaran’s revenue they constitute around 43% of its total revenue. There are 14,385 industrial and 3210 commercial HT consumers in the state.

Hogade further said, “We are going to challenge the new faulty method adopted by Mahavitaran before regulator as formula for calculating KvAh is erroneous and causing hardship to industries.”

When contacted Mahavitaran’s director operations Dinesh Saboo said, “We have not received any complaints from industry about inflated bills, in fact as there is moratorium on recovering fixed charges, bills to industry are much lower than normal ones.”