MERC orders refund of ORC

Kolhapur, Apr 19 (UNI) The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has directed the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDC) to refund to the consumers the outright contribution (ORC) and meter charges collected during September 8 last year, which were in violation of the MERC guidelines.

Maharashtra State Electricity Consumers Organisation president Pratap Hogade, while informing this to UNI here today, said the directive in this regard was issued on April 17 during the hearing of a petition in Mumbai.

This will benefit almost 50,000 consumers in Maharashtra from whom charges had been collected, he informed.

MERC had fixed the schedule of charges in September last year allowing the electricity distribution company to collect service charges from the consumers. Despite this, the company continued to recover ORC and meter charges, Mr Hogade said.

The company had collected meter charges in the range between Rs 700 to Rs 22,400 from domestic and industrial consumers respectively, while electricity pole charges collected ranged between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh, he added.

UNI