REL's name change and what it means to you...

REL applied for a change of name .. to Reliance Infrastructure .. now here's the fun ..

As we all know (via RTI) that the Electricity Distribution License for Mumbai Suburbs belongs
to 'Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply Company Limited' ...

... whose name was changed to 'BSES Limited' and 'Transfer of license' was not even applied for!
... and then the company was taken over by Reliance (undivided) group and again, no Transfer was applied.
... and then the company was 'allocated' to Anil Ambani Group and again, no transfer was applied.
... and then the name was changed to Reliance Energy Ltd and again, no transfer was applied for. In fact this time MERC tells the public that no transfer is required in a name change and tries to convince the people that Companies Act 'overrides' the Electricity Act (when it reality it DOES NOT)
... and now the name is changed to Reliance Infrastructure and do you think they have applied for a Transfer ?? Keep guessing !! More on that later ...

Anyway, the other point is that everytime a name change is effected, there needs to be a major change in the 'Objects' of the company - meaning the new company may now, not really be strictly an 'electricity' company - making it even more difficult for MERC (or anyone else) to figure out the accounts and the profitability of the electricity business .. so how are we going to determine tariff ??

The spineless MERC has still not been able to get REL to submit a separate P&L (and Balance Sheet) for the Mumbai Electricity business .. so consumers will again be taken for a ride.

On one hand REL is declaring one successful Quarter after another .. with upward spiralling profits .. and on the other hand it is trying to tell MERC that it is suffering a loss on account of higher Purchase Cost .. and therefore it needs to RAISE tariff !!

How long are you going to buy this story ??

Chew on it .. as you pay higher bills this summer....