Pratap Hogade

Navi Mumbai

Venkatesh Reddy

Alleging that the unscheduled loadshedding by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) is completely unwarranted and illegal, the Maharashtra Veej Grahak Sangathana (MVGS), a union of electricity consumers from the state has filed a petition in Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) on Monday.MVGS president, who filed the petition, has allegedly re-quoted MSEDCL, when it had claimed that there was surplus power this summer. However, the company is now claiming that there has been a shortfall of 4,000 MW this April and May. The petition further states that MSEDCL’s claim contradicts the actual surplus power of 9,500 MW.Despite the additional provision at disposal, Hogade told Pune Mirror that there are power cuts all over the state. “A grade cities like Pune, Kolhapur, Sangli, Nagpur andhave been affected. It reflects on the lack of planning on the MSEDCL and state government’s part,” he said.The consumers’ organisation also questioned the recovery of capacity chargers from lakhs of consumers. These chargers are meant for uninterrupted power supply and to compensate the power generating projects for additional power generation.“Because of this unreasonable power shut down, residential consumers, farmers and industrial consumers are facing huge losses. There is a need to appoint an independent committee to probe into this mismanagement and also need to repay the capacity charges to consumers,” says the petition.The petitioner alleges that either the MSEDCL has deliberately asked power generation companies to keep their units shut or that there is massive mismanagement on its part.“Some units are already shut due to lack of demand. However, the consumers are still playing the capacity charges. MSEDCL had demanded Rs 4,000 crore from consumers on this count,” Hogade said.The vexed organisation has also demanded MERC to take strict action against the MSEDCL officials and employees under sections 142 and 146 of the Electricity Act, 2003 for non–compliance of directions.These complaints flared into a petition after several consumers from the city were subjected to repeated power cuts. The load-shedding which lasts throughout the day has got residents demanding compensation from MSEDCL.Swargate resident Subrato Roy, a classical singer by profession, told Mirror, “Even though Pune has been declared a load shedding-free city, we face massive power cuts every Thursday during summers. On our maintenance day, we do not have power for 8-10 hours, which is unacceptable. A shutdown should be declared few days in advance. But, we are uninformed most of the times.”He further claimed that power cuts on every alternate Thursdays are still manageable and also questioned why these power cuts take place only in summers and not winters. “We are forced to depend on inverters and generators. The MSEDCL must compensate us for these extra expenses incurred,” Roy said.Another such annoyed resident,of Dhanori said that surviving with abrupt power cuts in their part of the city has become a common thing.“Earlier in May, we were forced to stay in the dark for a week as some civic officials cut off cables in the name of maintenance. If such circumstances prevail habitually, why are we paying maximum tariff in the state?” asked Reddy.Despite ample complaints, the public relations office released a statement claiming quite the contrary. “There is enough electricity generation with no unscheduled power cuts as claimed by petitioner. Because of pre-monsoon work there are some pre-informed shutdowns,” the officials said.█ Because of this unreasonable power shut down, residential consumers, farmers and industrial consumers are facing huge losses. There is a need to appoint an independent committee to probe into mismanagement