Power tussle on in Maharashtra: Consumers, MSEDCL both wait for relief

The year 2020 has been a tough one, particularly for the 24.2 million consumers of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL). The trouble started during the Covid-induced lockdown period, when scores complained of hefty bills. Initially, the CM Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government promised them a waiver, but soon, in a complete U-turn in November 2020, state energy minister Nitin Raut announced that consumers will have to pay the entire bill as the government cannot provide any relief.

With arrears mounting to ₹63,740 crore, as of January 2021, MSEDCL has directed its regional offices to recover dues or cut the power supply in case of non-compliance. While political parties such as the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Raju Shetti’s Swabhiman Shetkari Sanghatana, along with the Maharashtra State Power Consumers’ Association, are still demanding a waiver, residential consumers, many of whom have even has lost their jobs to the lockdown, are staring at a crisis.

MSEDCL in losses