This is how much more BEST will charge from 1st April.

BEST, Mumbai has filed its Multi-Year Tariff (MYT) petition, with MERC, which will come up for a Public Hearing on Feb 27th.

These new rates, if approved, will be applicable from 1st April, UNLESS .. you oppose it .. the choice is yours ..

Taking sample cases, here is a quick look of what may happen (the amounts incl. taxes and duty):

Residential Users (with Single phase supply)
100 units .. present .. Rs. 110 .. proposed .. Rs. 211 (91% up)
300 units .. present .. Rs. 707 .. proposed .. Rs. 1,226 (73% up)
400 units .. present .. Rs. 1,406 .. proposed .. Rs. 2,550 (81% up)

Residential Users (with Three-phase supply)
100 units .. present .. Rs. 206 .. proposed .. Rs. 285 (39% up)
300 units .. present .. Rs. 802 .. proposed .. Rs. 1,279 (59% up)
400 units .. present .. Rs. 1,459 .. proposed .. Rs. 2,603 (78% up)

Commercial users (LTC-1/LF-2)
300 units .. present .. Rs. 1,332 .. proposed .. Rs. 2,149 (61% up)
1000 units .. present .. Rs. 5,660 .. proposed .. Rs. 7,303 (29% up)
2000 units .. present .. Rs. 13,070 .. proposed .. Rs. 15,879 (21% up)

(This does not include variable charges for Commercial users above 3000 units per month).

I haven't presented the calculations for Industrial users, but that data is also available in 340-page document.

One of the main reasons for this is that BEST proposes to spend approx Rs. 800 crores in capital assets, over the next three years. Funny, since their average spending over the past 5 years is only in the range of 60-70 crores !!

Well .. as I said, the choice is yours .. keep quiet and pay up .. or stand up and oppose it.

The hearing is scheduled for Feb 27th and the last date for filing comments / objections with MERC is Feb 25th. Anyone else interested in filing a statement?

In case you are interested in what's happening on the electricity issue, please join the bijlee yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bijlee/ and keep yourself updated on the electricity issue - so you don't get rude SHOCKS !!

BTW. The numbers are driving me nuts .. in case I have made a calculation mistake, please bring it to my notice ! Thanks, in advance.

Well ... and that's how I feel ...