Six months ago, something important happened in the lives of electricity consumers in Maharashtra. In June 2025, electricity meters were changed without giving consumers any prior notice, and from 1st of July 2025 the ‘fixed charge’ in the electricity bill was increased by two rupees, and the electricity rate for consumption above 100 units was increased by about one rupee per unit. This means that consumers now have to pay more every month even to use the same amount of electricity as before.
Now, according to a notification issued by the Government of Maharashtra dated 19th of December 2025, the ‘Tax on Sale of Electricity’ (ToSE) in the bills of industrial and commercial electricity consumers has been increased by 9.90 paise per unit. The government says that this increase has been imposed to collect money to ensure that farmers get sufficient electricity during the daytime to run their pumps under the ‘Pradhan Mantri KUSUM Scheme’.
The word ‘KUSUM’ in ‘Pradhan Mantri Kusum Scheme’ is an abbreviation of ‘Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan’. The main objective of this scheme is said to be encouraging farmers to reduce the use of diesel for irrigation in agriculture and to increase the use of solar energy.
The ‘Pradhan Mantri KUSUM Scheme’ has three components. The first component is setting up solar power plants on the ground. The second component is installing solar pumps on farms across the country. The third component is supplying solar power to grid-connected agricultural pumps. The Government of Maharashtra has imposed this tax increase in the name of collecting funds for implementing the second component of this Central Government scheme.
The Electricity Regulatory Commission works to ensure that electricity consumers are not treated unfairly by improper increases in electricity tariffs. If electricity tariffs were to be increased, the proposal would have had to go before this Commission. However, by imposing a tax on electricity consumption, the State Government was able to take a decision by bypassing the Commission. Did the Government think that this proposal might not get approval if it was sent to the Electricity Regulatory Commission? Or did it already know for sure that approval would not be granted, and therefore used this clever method?
This gives rise to some important questions:
Why does the State Government have to collect money through a tax increase in order to give subsidies for installing solar pumps for farmers? Like other states, could it not have made a separate budgetary provision under ‘non-conventional energy use’?
Before making this increase, did the Government study what impact the higher monthly electricity bills would have on the financial condition of industrial and commercial consumers?
With how many, and which, representatives of industrial and commercial electricity consumers did the Government hold discussions? Is it not like the mindset of petty thieves to think that all industries and businesses in the state are making good profits, so let us quietly steal ten paise per unit from them?
Will the money collected through this tax increase actually be used only for the scheme mentioned above? ‘For the scheme’ is expected to mean ‘for providing electricity or subsidies to farmers’. There is a strong possibility (and past experience) that more money will be spent on advertisements claiming “we provided electricity to farmers”.
During the two (non-hu)man-made crises of demonetisation and the COVID lockdown, numerous industries and businesses have already shut down. Those that survived are mostly burdened with debt or are earning just enough to keep operations running. There is no special support, scheme, or policy from the Government to resolve the financial, technical, or business problems of industries and businesses. Instead, many obstacles and loopholes have been created and are still being created, in the name of GST, Digital India, Swachh Bharat, Beti Bachao, KYC, and others.
There is a famous dialogue by Salman Khan in the movie Bodyguard - “Mujh par ek ehsaan karna.. ki mujhpe koi ehsaan mat karna…” (“Do me one favour.. of not doing me any favours.”) On behalf of industry and business owners who take loans to build their businesses and keep them running by working day and night and sweating blood, one feels like making the same request to the Government: “Do us one favour.. of not doing us any favours… It’s okay if you can’t do anything for our benefit, but why make more holes in our already torn pockets?”
By the way, if all the scams of all the ministers in the cabinet were counted and the money recovered, all farmers and industries in the state are likely to get free electricity for at least the next ten years. Why can't our creative and intelligent public representatives and administrative officers think of some plan like this?
~ Mandar Shinde
09/02/2026
