Continue Tata Power purchase plan till March 2025 in Mumbai, BEST told

MUMBAI: In an important order for the island city, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has directed that the BEST should continue with embedded generation (thermal+hydro) from Tata Power till March 2025.

The BEST undertaking, which had planned to switch to alternative cheaper power for the next seven years, had proposed to MERC that it wants to “discontinue” power purchase with Tata Power for thermal capacities as energy charge for these units have reached up to Rs 8-Rs 11 per unit, and this could burden consumers and their monthly tariff.

However, the state transmission utility informed MERC that if embedded generation was discontinued, it could create “low voltage issues” which would limit the power transfer capability of Mumbai transmission lines and this would no longer ensure “safe, secure and reliable power supply system”.