Maharashtra orders Tata Power to continue cheap supply

Suburban Mumbai dwellers, faced with either power cuts or high power tariffs due to the stand-off between producer Tata Power Corp (TPC) and distributor Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra), may be spared both options, as the Maharashtra government has sent a stern letter to TPC asking it to maintain power supply at the current rates.

In the letter, the state government asked TPC to ease its stand on conditional supply of power to R-Infra. The letter comes a day after chief minister Ashok Chavan said he would ensure that there would neither be power cuts nor a hike in tariff.

"We have told TPC that this is an extraordinary situation of power shortage. They should follow our two principles of electricity: not to be supplied outside Mumbai; and sell it at the regulated price. If there are any other issues, apart from these two points, then we are interested in talking," said state energy secretary Subratho Ratho.

On Thursday, TPC said it would sell 200 MW to R-Infra, but at Rs5.90 per unit instead of the current rate of Rs3.50 per unit.

When asked what action the state would take if TPC does not follow its diktat, Ratho said: "We don't want to precipitate the issue. Whether or not Tata Power follows our request is hypothetical as we believe that it can be solved amicably and they would heed our request."

Tata Power said it was not aware of any letter by the government. "We left our offices at 7.30 pm and till that time we didn't receive any letter from the state government. We might receive it tomorrow. As of now our stand remains the same," said S Padmanabhan, executive director (operations), TPC.