MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has read the Riot Act to distribution and generation utilities and said they are clearly responsible for load shedding.

It has refused to change the load shedding pattern, saying there is no justification for modifying the protocol. It has criticised the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) for "favouring" industries and said a second staggering day of load shedding could be introduced for them if they had not reduced consumption to prescribed limits.

Already rural areas face scheduled power cuts for 14-15 hours and unscheduled cuts, which means they are without power for most of the day.

The MERC order is in response to an MSEDCL proposal, seeking approval to increase the hours of planned load shedding to mitigate the demand-supply gap of 6500-7000 MW.

In the order passed on Monday, the MERC said there was no justification for modifying the protocol, which was already approved by the commission, given the widely fluctuating claims and data of power utilities. It reminded the MSEDCL that its prime responsibility as a distribution licensee was to supply electricity for 24 hours.

The root cause of the crisis was the MSEDCL's reluctance to purchase the requisite quantum of power, the order said. The MSEDCL was bearing the brunt of not only its inefficiencies but also that of the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MSPGCL) or the MAHAGENCO, which significantly contributed to the crisis.

Power would be available, the MERC said, if adequate and serious efforts were made timely, as the Mumbai licensees under the coordination of the Tata Power Company had shown, by tying up around 400 MW in 10 days. If the MSEDCL so desired, it should be possible. The MERC blamed the MSEDCL for failing to plan its load requirement and power purchase quantum. The MSEDCL should ensure that the load shedding protocol was in consonance with the commission's February 20, 2007 order.

The maximum load shedding prescribed under this order ranged from four and a half hours in towns and cities to about 15 hours in rural areas. Mumbai has so far escaped load shedding but a plan has been kept in readiness.

The MERC said it was worrying that the MSEDCL seemed to believe that load shedding could be increased to any duration, citing grid security requirements. Rather than arranging for power purchase, it was proposing modifications to the load shedding protocol with ever-increasing ceiling hours, from eight in August last to 15 in February this year.

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