Programme to separate agriculture, domestic power feeders in Mah

Nagpur, Dec 13 (UNI) A feeder separation programme of Rs 711 crore is being implemented in Maharashtra to separate power feeders for the agriculture and the domestic sectors, Minister for Energy Dilip Walse-Patil told the state Legislative Assembly during question hour today.

Replying to supplementaries on a question from Prataprao Jadhav (Shiv Sena) and several others, Mr. Walse-Patil said that the feeder separation programme would help improve the availability of electricity to farmers. A similar programme had been implemented successfully in Gujarat, he said.

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) had specified Standards of Performance to ensure quality of service to consumers by power utility companies, Mr. Walse-Patil said adding that effort was being made to follow them in the government's electricity companies.

The minister listed the steps being implemented by the government to improve the availability of power in the state, which included purchase of power from other states, awareness campaigns, single-phasing programme and approval to proposals for creating additional generating capacity of 2,000 megawatts.

Mr. Walse-Patil said the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MAHADISCOM) had actually reduced the power tariff for most categories of consumers in the latest revision that was made effective from October 1 last. This included a reduction of 23 per cent for domestic consumers utilising less than 100 units per month, 18 per cent for those utilising between 101 and 300 units and 5 per cent for those utilising more than 300 units, he said. The reduction for commercial consumers was 40 per cent for consumption below 100 units, 6 per cent for 101 to 200 units and 8 per cent for more than 200 units, Mr. Walse-Patil said.

SICOM: SICOM was no longer a fully owned undertaking of the state government, Minister for Industry Ashok Chavan told the House during supplementaries on a question from Varsha Gaikwad and Sevak Waghaye (both Congress). SICOM had now become an almost private company, with the state government's stake being less than 50 per cent, Mr. Chavan said.

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