19 February,2015 11:00 AM IST | | Shashank Rao
Reliance Infrastructure has proposed a 120 per cent hike in wheeling charges the price to be paid by Tata Power consumers if they use RInfra’s distribution lines
The rivalry between Reliance and Tata is proving to be a costly affair for the common man. Reliance Infrastructure (Rinfra) has proposed a hike in their âwheeling charges' by a whopping 120 per cent.
The wheeling charges will be increased from R1.24 per KWh to R2.73 per KWh. Representation pic
âWheeling' is transfer of electricity through transmission and distribution lines between two utilities. Simply put, if a consumer is getting electricity from Tata Power, but the network and cables belong to RInfra, the consumers have to pay wheeling charges, which Reliance is planning to increase from Rs 1.24 per KWh (kilowatt-hour) to Rs 2.73 per KWh.
As per RInfra's petition for 2015-16, they have also increased the âenergy charges' for residential consumers using 301-500 units by 35 per cent, and 501 and above units by 26 per cent. However, consumers using less than 300 units have a reason to smile, as their power tariff will be dropped by 9 per cent.
Out of the 29-lakh RInfra consumers in suburbs, around 20 lakh are residential users. Around 18.5 lakh users consume up to 300 units per month, and will benefit from the new tariff plan. These users are cross-subsidised by users on the higher consuming bracket.
Many are also flocking to Tata Power, which offers cheaper tariffs, though power experts claim that there will be a constant shift of consumers between the two power companies. "We also expect to recover around R1,582 crore pending from various judgements and past recoveries," a RInfra official said.
