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Reliance Infrastructure, which supplies power to the suburbs of Mumbai, has sought an average tariff hike of five per cent in its petition for determination of tariff for 2009-10, submitted to the state power regulators — the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).While it has sought a 17 per cent hike for residential consumers, it wanted a 1 per cent reduction for commercial consumers availing themselves of low tension power supply.

No change has been sought in the reliability charge and standby charge, both 27 paise, for all categories. The proposed power charge ranges from 50 paise to Rs 2.50 per unit across various categories while the utility seeks to increase the energy charge from the existing 80 paise-Rs 13.55 per unit, for various categories of consumers, to Rs 1.40-Rs 18.85 per unit.

The power distribution utility has also sought an “equitable allocation” of the Tata Power Company’s surplus power generation between itself and the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) that supplies power to the island city.

It has also asked for a reduction in cross-subsidy between the various consumer categories and a creation of a new HT (high tension)-Public and Government category of consumers, which will cover airport terminals, the BEST terminals and BMC, state and Central government offices.

For residential consumers (LT-I), it has sought a tariff hike of nine per cent for consumers using up to 100 units and from 101 to 300 units of power. The proposed hike for the category of consumers using between 300 to 500 units is 30 per cent and for those using above 500 units 35 per cent. The hike works out to a sub-total of 17 per cent for domestic consumers.

A hike of 13 per cent has been proposed for commercial consumers (LT-II) using up to 20 KW power. But a13 per cent reduction in the tariff has been proposed for consumers using between 21 and 50 KW and for those using above 50 KW.

A public hearing will be held on March 26 at Rangsharada Natya Mandir at Bandra Reclamation.