Zero power cut hearing on Oct 28

Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), on expected lines, has fixed the date of public hearing on MSEDCL’s proposal to

make seven cities — including Nagpur and Amravati — load shedding free from October 27 to November 6 in six cities. The hearing in Amravati will be held on October 27.

The hearing in Nagpur will be held on October 28 at Vanamati Hall, VIP Road, Dharampeth. MSEDCL has issued a public notice for its petition and invited suggestions and objections from the consumers. They have to be sent to superintending engineer of MSEDCL’s tariff research cell, Prakashgad, Mumbai. The public notice is available on the power utility’s website www.mahadiscom.in .

MSEDCL sources said that MERC has fixed the date of public hearings so late as it does not want to hold them during election code of conduct. Even though Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce elections in the state MERC seems to have taken the decision on basis of media reports that election would be held in second week of October. Nagpur and Amravati had paid a heavy price for MERC’s obstinacy last time when power sellers had cancelled the informal power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) when MERC made it clear that hearings would not be held when code of conduct for parliamentary elections was in force.

MSEDCL in its petition had stated that it wanted to implement zero load shedding (ZLS) schemes from September 1. However, now there is no chance of this happening before December 1 as the public hearings would continue till November 6. MERC would take at least 15 to 20 days to issue an order. MSEDCL has stated in the public notice that copy of its petition containing all details will be made available at all zonal offices and can be purchased for Rs 20. In Nagpur you can get it at office of chief engineer (CE), Nagpur urban zone at Link Road, Gaddigodam and CE, Nagpur Zone at Katol Road Square. The consumers of Amravati will have to get copies from CE office at Akola.