“If you mess with electricity, expect to get burned.” …
Stephen Magee received his B.A. and M.A. from Texas Tech University and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology & is author of books such as Toxic Electricity & many more. He is a world leading expert on radiation and human health. He revealed the "Multiple-Sun" effect that occurs in architecture, and found unnaturally high levels of solar radiation in human society. No wonder, with such authority on a subject as complex as electricity, Steve can warn about messing up with it in such plain yet powerful words as the above quote! And then, the biggest need of today’s life is no more just “Roti, Kapda ya Makan” i.e., Food, Clothes or Home, its Electricity, as without electricity all there of above is unachievable for our 150 plus crore of countrymen (I am just referring our country) as well don’t forget charging our cell phones without which most of us can’t even breath! And that’s why when off-late MSEB (Sorry MSEDCL I am yet finding difficult to connect) was in the news (it is always but mostly for wrong reasons) for a proposal of rate hike by nearly 35% than the present tariff I thought of using Steven’s quote about electricity as somewhere we (we all) are messing up with electricity in our own way & high time to correct ourselves.
First of all, those who yet doesn’t know, it’s no more MSEB i.e., Maharashtra State Electricity Board, now it’s been divided in three companies Generation, Distribution & Transmission, so, for us its MSEDCL i.e., Distribution which does the job MSEB was used to do. In simple words, earlier MSEB used to supply us (our homes & offices) & charge us for the same job that is now done by MSEDCL. Now, you have understood who supplies your electricity, then the news was, MSEDCL has proposed nearly 35% hike per unit you use of electricity for most of its categories of supply. If you are wondering what this category means, it’s the purpose for which electricity is being used & the same electricity is charged at different rates per unit. Means electricity user is domestic or say residential then its Rs 7 / unit but for commercial use the rate is Rs 12/ unit & the list is big enough! First of all, I always wonder why it’s so, as the same joke is with water supply also but nowhere in the world such a different tariff for essential services like water or electricity is there. Just think, if your car is for private or say domestic use & if you use it for your office or business work, then you will have to buy same petrol at higher rate & if your car is used for some industry of your own then again it will be different rate per litre, how you will feel? Now take another example, you buy milk for your home at say Rs 50/ litre but if you are using that milk for your tea stall then you will have to buy it at Rs 70/litre, what will be your reaction? I know, experts in the electricity field will laugh at me but then I am a civil engg & not electric engg & I am putting this forward as a common electric consumer also. And on top of it your neighbour gets milk & petrol not on per litre but on package basis & that too he doesn’t pay & then govt tries to recover that deficit from your purchase of milk & petrol, now tell me your reaction!
Well, with due respect to my good friends in MSEDCL, it’s not just for the sake of opposing the tariff hike in per unit charges of electricity but it’s the reasons which high time now must be taken in fact! First of all, let me thank MSEDCL (Pune division) for wonderful service (in comparison to other many cities, as I can see frowning faces) on the electric supply front as the challenges are many. Even being one of the biggest revenue earning zones i.e., Pune, the maintenance money as well infrastructure funding is always short in comparison with the load demand & yet the Pune Division stands to the mammoth expectations from the consumer. All those who think I am trying to make local MSEDCL people happy please go to other urban centers & study the situation of electric supply but that doesn’t mean all is well! Despite helping Pune division to earn maximum revenue by paying the electricity bills on time yet Pune has to face tariff hike, is my point of sharing! And fault is in the system of our entire electricity system as alone Pune MSEDL’s (division) recovery of agriculture electric supply is nearly Rs. 14,000 crores & this I am not saying, it’s been published in newspapers from the sources of MSEDCL only! Imagine if this is the case of alone Pune division the what will be dues of entire State & this includes not just agriculture pumps dues, but the payment defaulter list includes many of govt organizations also, water supply schemes, co-operative sugar (and allied) industries, even municipal corporations & yes, the big bosses of politics all of them are defaulters but MSEDCL can’t do anything about this recovery for ages is a fact! Worst part is being a govt (State) undertaking for MSEDCL this is like “Tond Dabun Bukkyancha Maar”, sorry there are no alternatives to some phrases in Marathi, & this is one such which in simplest way MSEDCL is helpless (read as toothless) for recovery from above categories. And the outcome is, every now & then increase the tariff of those consumers who are good pay masters (read as who has no Godfather to wave out their dues).
Though fortunately MSEDCL can’t charge the electricity as per their wish & will the way builders can charge their flat’s prices (thankfully) but there is another body named MERC i.e. Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission, this body governs or say guides to all electricity companies (like TRAI for telecom cos’) & MSEDCL has to justify their rate hikes in front of MERC & then only can change the tariff! There is a but, in this also, as MERC is also a State Govt authority & no wonder whose interests this body will look after first. Unfortunate part is, when MERC conducted a hearing about the latest electricity charges hike by MSEDCL many consumer associations put forward their issues against this rate hike but no political party uttered a single word that’s the irony of our industry or say society! As all those Netas’ who are eager to post their opinion about smallest of the issues have kept mum leave apart filing a studied documented (well, whom I am fooling) stamen about the rate hike of MSEDCL. Reason is one, they care a hang of what common men & businessmen have to pay for electricity as they are anyway not going to suffer & second, no political party wants to lose the vote bank which enjoys free electricity at the cost of sincere paying citizens! I am sorry, I don’t say we do not sympathize with farmers or the real poor while fixing tariffs of electricity but at least we can rationalize it as well check who are real needy ones & who & taking disadvantage of such loss-making policies! Already we are way too high per unit charges in comparison to many States electric supply & on the background of it, the new rate hike will break the budget of many middle-class families as well as small-scale businesses! And on top of it we have categories such as Construction Meter at site where we have to pay Rs 12 plus per unit & this is sheer unjust! And that's why with due respect, MSEDCL doesn't promote alternate source of energy in the areas like Pune & Thane which are their milking cows!
If this is about electricity charges then making infrastructure for electric supply burden is also put on the heads of businesses, as I know cases where some projects have to pay Crores of Rupees just to get proper electric supply as MSEDCL doesn’t have enough budget to make this infra, nobody speaks anything about it! And then there is the routine maintenance aspect of the existing network of cables & transformers in the city which makes the consumers face repeated load shedding (read as power cut) often! I think, high time “Mai Baap” govt to look in to this very important aspect of city’s residents as well businesses, as to avail electric supply at reasonable rate & fast, is a basic right of every citizen or else time is not far away when some Jio will enter on the scene & then we all know what will happen to our electricity companies, whatever you name them, mind it!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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Hello sir, Very nicely presented the problem with MSEDCL's policy. The alternative energy source is the need of hour & here is where non-conventional energy source comes into power.
ReplyDelete- Rahul Rajput