On 15 October 2009, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) had passed an interim order stating that Tata Power Ltd (TP) would be allowed to supply power to existing Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RelInfra) customers who wished to switch power utilities.
Since the MERC order has been passed—as of information available for November 2009—more than 1,500 switchover connections in the city have been completed, since the process started in October 2009. The total number of applications pending for switchover from RelInfra to TP is believed to be 5,000, till the end of November 2009.
Out of these 5,000 applications, switchover dates have already been finalised for 3,000 applications in November 2009. These 3,000 applications were those where no issues had to be resolved. The remaining 2,000 applications pending with TP will be cleared this month.
Sources close to the issue say that TP has been maintaining an average switchover rate of around 60 connections per day; it has processed 100 applications on certain days—the company is eventually gearing up to provide 100 to 200 connections on a daily basis. TP has also set up a team of seven to eight members who would supervise the switchover process. Recently, TP added a section to its website where the status of a pending switchover application can be checked.
TP officials could not be reached for immediate comments on this issue.
- Amritha Pillay