Power bills down, smart meters up, ToD billing nod for domestic users

Nagpur: The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) approved the implementation of Time of Day (ToD) billing system for residential consumers. The move paves way for installation of smart meters across the state, ending the long-standing debate surrounding the technology.
Experts said residential consumers will see a reduction in tariffs ranging between 4% and 13% for the next financial year.
Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) will soon begin replacing existing meters with smart ones for all residential and commercial consumers. "MERC has enabled a ToD rebate of 0.80 to 1 per kWh for residential consumers for consumption during solar hours (9am to 5pm)," said commission in a press note.
Many companies and industries using solar power had objected to slabs under ToD claiming it would increase their power bills and they would not gain much by installing solar panels.
Association for Industrial Development (AID) vice-president Girdhari Mantri said, "Electricity bills of industries would reduce by around 10%. Apart from this, both residential and industrial solar consumers too would benefit. The residential solar consumers would be able to take advantage of solar for 24 hours while the industrial users would be able to benefit for 17 hours against the 8 hours which was proposed by MSEDCL."
Power expert RB Goenka, who was also a former director of MSEB holding company, said MERC has ordered the formation of a separate company for agriculture consumers and tariff of agricultural consumers shall be separately decided from April 2028. "This will completely wipe out agricultural cross-subsidy burden on other consumers. Agricultural consumers will be supplied from solar generating plants being installed by the govt and the generation cost from these solar plants is very low," said Goenka.
Nagpur Residential Hotels Association president Tejinder Singh Renu said MERC has made a groundbreaking move to bolster Maharashtra's tourism industry by reclassifying hotels, resorts, and guesthouses with lodging facilities under the industrial tariff category. "This strategic decision is expected to significantly reduce power bills for these establishments which were previously charged commercial tariffs," said Renu, adding that the tariffs are anticipated to drop by a substantial 30-40%.
MSEDCL has around 3.16 crore consumers across the state with a majority being residential ones. It already charges the highest tariff in Maharashtra as well as other neighbouring states. Compared to the renewed tariffs of other discoms in the state, these reduced rates of MSEDCL will still be higher after five years, according to power experts.
Power experts also added that MSEDCL submitted a revenue gap and other costs of 48,066, to be recovered from consumers. "However, the MERC has projected a 44,480 surplus revenue over five years against MSEDCL's 48,066 projected revenue gap even after reducing tariffs," said experts adding that the MSEDCL must now focus on cutting their losses.