Days after it laid down an interim plan for consumers of Reliance Infrastructure to switch over to Tata Power for purchase of electricity, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission is preparing a draft regulation, which would be made into a law by June 2010.
"We are working on a draft regulation. There is a statutory procedure that has to be followed, which includes discussion with all the stakeholders involved. We will then place the draft on the floor of the Maharashtra legislative Assembly for objections and suggestions," MERC chairman, V P Raja, told reporters.
"It (final regulation) should take about eight months. . .by June next year," Raja said. Over 40,000 consumers of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd have been waiting to switch over to cheaper Tata Power for the past few months.
The change-over process was delayed as the two companies differed over replacement of old meters of Reliance with new ones by Tata Power, meter reading and wheeling charges.
The MERC, on October 15, provided an interim solution that said meters by Reliance would remain and that customers changing over to Tata Power would be billed according to those readings.
Raja said the change-over process has begun and over 300 customers of Reliance Infrastructure have successfully switched to Tata Power Company.
"Till about four days ago, 300 customers had successfully changed over from Reliance to Tata Power. This was in the western suburbs," he said.
"The changeover cannot take more than 30 days from receipt of a completed application by the new distribution licensee," he said.
Both distribution licensees have been asked to provide change-over application forms at their respective consumer service centers and websites.
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