MERC has also directed that the public should be given an opportunity to study the new proposal and offer comments within 15 days. It has also asked the MSEB to consider efficiency norms provided by Power Finance Corporation, Central Electricity Authority, Rural Electrification Corporation and various financial institutions while projecting the expenditure in the new tariff proposal.

MSEB will submit a fresh tariff hike proposal on March 6 to the MERC which had taken a strong objection on the "discrepancies" in the October 1999 proposal. Ther board had proposed around 10 per cent hike which has been challenged by various consumer bodies.

MERC in its interim order has asked the MSEB to make informed projections on the basis of actuals achieved mainly to fix reliable tariff rates for 2000-01. It has said that MSEB in its fresh proposal should avoid lacunae in the data for agricultural consumption and transmission and distribution losses.

MERC has pointed out that MSEB had not considered certain revenue streams while calculating the total revenue in the original proposal. If revenue streams such as miscellaneous revenue, inter-state sales, sales to Mula-Pravara and Industrial LTPG connected load is taken into account, the surplus would have been Rs 1,118 crore as against the requirement of about Rs 403 crore (calculated at 4.5 per cent rate of return on net fixed assets).

However, MSEB in the revised affidavit had shown a deficit of Rs 651 crore, even after considering full tariff hike. MERC said that the surplus amount get reduced by Rs 1,800 crore which is a substantial one. It has added that there have been substantial changes in the figures of connected load, number of consumers, agricultural consumers and T&D losses which have also been varied by more than 2000 million units.

MSEB's data on energy audits conducted in 16 divisions during June 1998 and May 1999 has revealed that the total loss was 26.5 per cent. MERC has commented that "if energy loss is so high in urban divisions, then the loss in rural divisions is, for obvious reasons, likely to be higher".

MERC has also asked the MSEB to make its position clear on installation of "time-of-day" meters for levelling the demand between peak and non-peak hours, encouragement for the use of static meters by consumers. MERC wants that MSEB should ensure that all new connections are released with meter-based tariff only and it should draw an action plan for supplying meters for all consumers according to a schedule.

Furthermore, MERC has asked the MSEB to ensure provision of new connections within a stipulated period. While in case of delay beyond the stipulated period, MSEB should inform the consumers the reasons for the same and the likely date of new connection.