Maharashtra Cross-Subsidy Declared

The ongoing cross-subsidy issue in Maharashtra, which was also the subject of a Supreme Court judgement recently, seems to have been resolved.
MERC came out with an order on the subject on September 9.
The highlights are:
Cross-subsidy (CSS) has been determined as follows:
– MSEDCL: HT Categories – Rs 0.21 unit to Rs 3.97 per unit. (the higher amount is for temporary connections; the majority of industrial consumers will face a CSS of 21 paise to 92 paise)
– RInfra-D: HT Categories – Rs 0.26 per unit to Rs 2.79 per unit.
– TPC-D: HT Categories (Only for Temporary Consumer) – Rs 2.58 per unit to Rs 2.81 per unit.
The order further notes that open access transactions from Renewable Energy will attract a cross-subsidy of 25% of the applicable charges. (This is great news for several wind and biomass producers, who may face CSS of 5 paise to 23 paise only, as against the earlier demand by MSEDCL of 80 paise)
Another interesting point is that MERC study suggests that despite the CSS, industrial consumers stand to gain “about Rs 1.47 per unit” from open access.
The order is available here. Also see Business Standard article on the subject here.