MERC was established in August 1999. Since then several consumer and industry groups were expecting that performance of licensees in Mumbai (BSES and TPC) would also be evaluated in a transparent manner similar to that of MSEB. Since this did not happen, Prayas filed a petition with this prayer before the MERC in August 2002. Unfortunately, MERC turned down this prayer and decided to look into only the fuel cost adjustment charges applied by both these utilities. (MERC Order dt. 1 Nov. 2002 - [see below]).  Both the utilities submitted data but no order was given on this. At a later stage, during the course of proceedings on other matters related to these utilities the MERC directed them to file ARR / Tariff applications. In September 03 and October 03, BSES and TPC respectively have filed ARR applications before the MERC. Prayas is actively participating in these cases. During the first stage of these cases main thrust of Prayas’s intervention is on enhancing transparency and asking these utilities to submit data similar to that of MSEB.