 
Bombay Municipal Building 1900
Mumbai saw
electric lighting for the first time in 1882. The place was the Crawford
Market. The following year the Municipality entered into an agreement
with the Eastern Electric Light and Power Company. Under the agreement,
the Company was to provide electric lighting in the Crawford Market and
on some of the roads. But the Company went into liquidation the
following year, and the Market reverted to gas lighting. Thus ended the
first scheme to provide electric lighting in the city.
Another scheme was
taken up for consideration in 1891; and in 1894 the Municipality
sanctioned funds for installing a plant to generate electricity.
Thecurrent was to be supplied to the Municipal offices and Crawford
Market. It was, and the two places were fitted up with electric lights.
But by 1906, with the wear and tear of all those years, the machinery at
the plant was in a bad way. The current would stop off and on. So, once
again, Crawford Market went back to gas lighting. The Municipal
offices, however, arranged to get the electricity it needed from the
newly established "Bombay Electric Supply & Tramways Company".
This Company was
originally established in England, as a subsidiary of the British
Electric Traction Company, which had been trying since 1903 to bring
electricity to Mumbai. The Brush Electrical Engineering Company was its
agent. It applied to the Municipality and the Government of Bombay in
1904 for a license to supply electricity to the city. With the
municipality approving the Company’s schedule of rates, the Government
issued the necessary license : "The Bombay Electric License, 1905. When
the Bombay Electric Supply & Tramways Company came into being, it
entered into a contract with the original licensee to take over the
right of supplying electricity to the city.
The Bombay Electric
Supply & Tramways Company (B.E.S.T.) set up a generating station at
Wadi Bunder in November 1905 to provide power for the tramway. The
capacity of the station was 4,300 kws. The needs of the city and of the
tramway in respect of electric power were bound to grow. At a rough
estimate the full capacity of the Wadi Bunder plant was not going to be
adequate beyond 1908. The plant could not be expanded much either. So it
was decided to set up another generating station, one with a higher
capacity, near Mazgaon (Kussara). It started functioning in 1912. The
pace at which the demand for electricity grew can be gauged from the
fact that within three years the Wadi Bunder Station proved to be
inadequate. The tram service had been expanding, and more and more power
was needed for the industrial and commercial establishments, as well as
for domestic purposes.
Within a year since
the B.E.S.T. Company started generating electricity, the Government
proposed to issue a license to another concern for the supply of
electric power to the city. It was the Tata Company. Its capital and
resources were such that the B.E.S.T. Company could hardly stand up
against it, as a competitor. The B.E.S.T. Company had cause to worry as
to what was going to happen to what it had set up, and its shareholders.
Its interests were going to be very badly affected if the Tatas were
given a license. It therefore asked for the appointment of a Local
Inquiry Committee, under the Electricity Act of 1903, to which it would
submit its objections in detail. The Chairman of the Municipality too
expressed himself against the proposal to grant a license to the Tatas.
There were informal discussions between the representatives of the Tatas
and Mr.Remington, Managing Director of the B.E.S.T. Company, with a
view to finding out if the differences regarding the proposed license
could be settled. A settlement was finally arrived at. Under it, only
those whose requirement of electric power was above 5,00,000 units were
to be served by the Tatas. This agreement was to be effective for a
period of ten years, to begin with. The Tatas were given a license, and
they started generating electricity in 1911. The B.E.S.T. Company itself
drew on the Tatas when its own production was inadequate. The
generating station at Kussara was, of course, functioning. In 1918,
owing to insufficient rainfall, there was not enough water in the dam
which fed the Tata Plant. The B.E.S.T. Company had to come to the help
of the Tatas to maintain their power supply.
Though the B.E.S.T.
Company had to take some of the electric power it needed from the Tatas,
it was trying to be self sufficient in this respect. But with the
outbreak of the First World War, the whole situation changed. The price
of coal shot up and the generation of electricity became an unprofitable
business. This led the Company to close down its Kussara Station, and
it began to get all the power it needed from the Tatas.
The agreement, under
which this was done, was made in 1923. It was to be in operation for a
period of fifteen years, initially. It could then be extended by a five
years’ notice for further ten years. After that an annual renewal of the
agreement was provided for. The supply of power under the agreement
actually started in January 1925. When the first renewal was due there
arose sharp differences of opinion between the Tatas and the B.E.S.T.
Company. The most important of these related to those customers who
needed more than five lakh units. The Company maintained that the
condition in respect of such customers applied only to factories.
Whether those whose needs of power increased to more than five lakh
units in course of time were customers of the Tatas or the Company was a
disputed point. About the same time, the Bombay Port Trust invited
tenders for the supply of power. This set off a fierce competition
between the Tatas and the Company for the contract. The Tatas quoted a
lower rate than they were charging the Company, and the Company quoted
almost the same rate. But the rate could have only meant a loss. And the
Tatas would have run into legal trouble too, for the Port Trust was not
‘factory’ as required by the old agreement. Moreover, the rate quoted
by the Tatas was unfair to the Company. Both the sides now recognised
the need for a compromise, and the dispute was settled by leaving to the
Company all the customers, except factories, who required more than
five lakh units.
Even the Port Trust,
which indirectly served as the cause of the compromise had to secure a
‘distributing license’ from the Government to avoid possible legal
complications.
1905 to 1911 formed
the first stage of the use of electricity in Mumbai. It was not so
easily available then. And, of course, the common man could not just
afford it. An electric bulb cost two rupees. To have electric lights in
your home was status symbol. The luxury was within the means of only the
affluent, and most of even those were not mentally prepared to bring
this strange thing into their homes.
The second stage was
from 1911 to 1920. It made the people of Mumbai fairly familiar with
electricity. Electric lighting, everybody agreed, was a good thing, but
the importance of electric power to industries was yet to be accepted.
The textile mills and other industries still continued to use steam and
oil engines for the power they needed. Once electric motors of high
power were available, the resistance of these industrialists to
recognise electricity as a blessing and a convenience weakened. The
Company appointed load canvassers to visit homes and factories for this
purpose. The impact of their persuasion was particularly registered by
the domestic consumption, which went up considerably. Electrical
appliances used in the kitchen and elsewhere drew more and more people
to them.
The next phase - 1930
to 1947 - saw tremendous progress in the supply of electricity. A
variety of electrical appliances were to be had in plenty. The common
man realised what a great help electricity was, and yet, how cheap. The
efforts of the B.E.S.T. had achieved their objective. An important
development was the setting up of a show-room.
THE SHOWROOM
A show-room was set up
in 1926 on the ground floor of Electric House, to give advice to
customers on the use of domestic electrical appliances and of electric
power, in general. The service was free of charge; but it was aimed at
promoting the use of electricity. This service was modelled on similar
lines as in England.
A good deal of useful
work was achieved by the showroom, apart from instructing people in the
use of gadgets. For example, it designed a special kind of electric iron
for dhobis, and the tribe of dhobis took to it enthusiastically.
Similarly, the showroom fabricated for individual consumers such
apparatus as air blowers, sizing tanks and drying cabinets, according to
specifications suited to their particular needs. These were not easily
available in the market, as the demand for them was limited. With the
import restrictions brought by the Second World War, such apparatus were
even more sought after, and therefore the service offered by the
show-room was even more appreciated.
The Lighting Bureau of
the Showroom used to give special advice with regard to the lighting
arrangements in offices and factories. The experts on the staff of the
showroom would visit the place to see things for themselves before
giving their advice. The showroom also started renting out electrical
appliances. Refrigerators, which were included in the scheme, became so
popular, right from the beginning, that the demand for them could hardly
be met. Soon after the inauguration of the showroom. The Times of India
of 14th July, 1926 carried a letter about the new service from a reader
who signed himself ‘Electric’.
The letter said :
ELECTRIFYING THE HOME
To
The Editor of The Times of India,
Sir,
The Bombay Electric
Supply and Tramways Company deserve to be congratulated on their
organisation and speedy inauguration of an up-to-date motor bus service
for the City of Bombay. Close upon this comes the news of the
arrangements that are being made by the same concern to convert, "the
poor men’s cottages into prince’s palaces". The report that the company
is shortly opening a "showroom" at their Head Office at Colaba for the
demonstration of domestic electrical appliances fit for Indian
conditions will be received with great joy by all who, though poor, yet
possess sufficient "sanitary conscience" to wish to do away once for all
with the foul odour of coal and charcoal gas. The millennium does not
seem to be far away when one reads that even at "Hackney, one of the
most unattractive and depressing parts in London, the local authorities,
by assiduous service, have so developed the use of electricity for
cooking and heating in these small homes that it is becoming the
universal agent, and the supply system contributes between thirty and
forty thousand pounds a year to the relief of the rates". But how far
the citizens of Bombay will avail themselves of the facilities offered
greatly depends upon the efforts the organisers make to spread the
"electrical idea" into the home of every family as well as upon the
economic efficiency of the "new order of things".
- ELECTRIC
STREET LIGHTING
It was in July 1921
that the Municipality proposed for the first time that the B.E.S.T.
Company should undertake to provide street lighting. A scheme was drawn
up for installing electric lamps at 47 street junctions. On 1st August
1923 the first lot of 36 lamps was on. They had tungsten filaments.
Sodium vapour lamps were tried out on the Horn by Vellard (now called
Dr.Annie Besant Road) in 1938.
The Indian Electricity
Act of 1903 was repealed in 1910, and the new Act took its place. In
1922 the Indian Electricity Rules came into force. The State secured
greater control on electric power. The generation of electricity came to
be ranked among the major industries. One of the Rules required every
concern producing electricity to supply it to whatsoever applied for it.
WHAT ELECTRICITY COST TO THE CONSUMER
In its application to
the Municipality for permission to supply electricity, the Brush
Electrical Engineering Company proposed the following tariff :
(1) For lighting :
eight annas per unit upto a specific limit (maximum demand). Three annas
per unit for consumption in excess of it.
(2) For Power for
Industries : eight annas per unit upto a specific limit (maximum
demand). An anna and a half per unit for consumption in excess of it.
The tariff was
approved. However, the Company’s method of fixing the specific limit was
quite complicated. Somehow the pace of growth of consumption fell short
of expectations. So an expert was invited to examine the tariff.
Following his recommendations the rates were reduced in 1907. For
lighting, the basic rate was kept at eight annas, but the subsequent
rate was reduced from three annas per unit to two annas; and for
industrial power the rate was slashed down to a uniform two annas per
unit.
But the Company’s
billing procedure continued to be complicated. And the consumers too
continued to complain. Finally, in 1908, the Tramways Committee of the
Municipality, which had Sri Pherozeshah Mehta as its Chairman, invited
Mr.Remington, Managing Director of the B.E.S.T. Company, for a
discussion of the matter. Apart from the billing the rate schedule was
unfair to those consumers who did not have to keep their lights on late
into the night. For them, electric lights cost one and a half times as
much as gas lights. The tramway Company therefore wanted the specific
limit to go and a uniform rate to be introduced. There were further
discussions, and proposals and counter-proposals were bandied, for a
good two years till a new tariff emerged. It was as under :
(1) Four and a half
annas per unit for lighting, fans and small appliances, per every 250
units consumed in a month, one per cent discount in the bill, 35 per
cent being the maximum discount so allowed.
(2) 3 annas per unit for hospitals.
(3) 2 annas per unit for industries.
This schedule was
based on the assumption that the payment for the bills would be made at
the Head Office of the Company on the Colaba Causeway and that it would
be punctual. It was therefore specially stated in the schedule that
those consumers who failed to pay their bills promptly would have to pay
a deposit.
This schedule was
introduced as an experimental measure for two years. It was then
confirmed by the Tramways Committee after careful deliberations.
An interesting
suggestion was made by the Greaves Cotton Company in 1912. It was
regarding the use of electricity to supply heat. If concession rates
were offered, the Company pointed out, dhobis would readily use
electricity for ironing clothes, and so too would many industrialists.
The prospect persuaded the B.E.S.T. Company to lower the rate to one
anna per unit for such consumers. This was in 1913.
About the same time
Mumbai had its first cinema houses, Four of them - the Alexandra, the
Coronation, the Edward and the Gaiety - used to get their electric
supply from the B.E.S.T. Company. It first struck the management of the
Edward that putting up their own generating plant would mean a cheaper
current. It promptly said that it would discontinue the use of its
electric power unless a concession in the rate was granted. The Company,
realizing what the loss of such customers would mean, promptly
reconsidered the matter, and brought down the rate to three annas a
unit. Electric illuminations at weddings were coming into vogue; they
also were put in a special category for concessional rates. In 1915, the
rate for cinema houses was further brought down from three annas to two
annas per unit.
Then there was the
shortage of electric meters in 1917. It meant that no new connections
could be given. Undeterred, the Company announced that it would charge a
rupee per point. If your flat had four points, you would have to pay
four rupees to the Company every month, no matter how much current you
consumed. The rate had been fixed on the basis of the average of all the
bills for six months. This exposed the Company to the possibility of a
loss, but it preferred some loss of revenue to the loss of consumers,
the only alternative in the situation.
Soon the cost of
generating electricity started going up, and in 1922 the B.E.S.T.
Company approached the Municipality for permission to levy a 15 per cent
surcharge on its bills for the supply of electricity. The Tramways
Committee of the Municipality refused to oblige. In 1930, the
Municipality asked the B.E.S.T. Company to lower its rates on the ground
that an essential item like electricity should be available to the
people at a cheap rate. The Calcutta Electricity Company was cited as an
example in this respect.
The Company’s stand in
this respect was explained by its General Manager in his letter to the
Municipality in 1930. The points he made were : (1) The rates in force
had been fixed in 1910, and there had been no increase in them since. In
Bombay, electricity was the one item of which the price had not gone up
for years together. (2) The Company got its electricity from the Tatas
at so much per unit and it supplied it to its consumers as so much per
unit. It was naively thought that the difference between the two rates
was the Company’s profit per unit. It was not all that simple. The
voltage of the power received from the Tatas had to be reduced, and this
operation cost the Company quite a bit. Then there was the leakage on
the lines carrying the current to the consumers. Such wastage ordinarily
amounts to 15 per cent. That is, for every 100 units drawn from the
Tatas, only 85 actually reached the consumers.
There was yet another
point. What profit the company made on the supply of electricity helped
it run its tramway service, which charged a flat rate of one anna, the
lowest for any transport service in the world, as had been pointed out
by Mr.Dalrymple. The bus service too was a liability, but it was being
run to supply a real civic need. The attention of the Municipality was
drawn to this fact.
Meanwhile, an expert
was invited from England to examine the Company’s schedule of rates. He
arrived in Mumbai in December 1929. His conclusion was that the rates
were generally fair. Some modifications were made in the schedule on
the lines suggested by him. Those were the days of a trade depression,
and the Company showed its awareness of it by cutting down its rates
wherever it could.
The State Government
appointed a committee in 1938 to study the Company’s tariff and advise
the Government on what the maximum rates should be for the various
categories of consumers. The Government accepted the committee’s
recommendations and asked the Company to give effect to them from 1st
April, 1939. The revised rate were : 2 annas per unit for lighting and
fans, three quarters of an anna per unit for electrical appliances; and
four annas per month as the meter rent. There was a similar reduction in
the rates for the other categories.
However, the
Government gave an undertaking to the Company that it would not ask for
further reduction for five years, and that the Company would be exempted
from the Sales Tax during this period.
Any organisation
supplying electricity tries to encourage its use by offering attractive
rates. So did the B.E.S.T. Company. But it had to abide by its agreement
with the Municipality which stipulated that such reduction in rates
should apply to all the types of consumers.
The Company’s
agreement with the Tatas regarding the supply of electric power was
renewed in 1938. Now the power cost less to the Company, which in its
turn passed the advantage to the consumers. For example, till 1934 the
rate for lights was four annas per unit. By 1938 it had come down to 3
annas upto 14 units, and two and a half annas thereafter. There was a
similar lowering of the rates for the other types of consumption.
Electricity was
generated for the first time in Mumbai in 1905. During the next forty
years its consumption went up from 1,50,000 kilowatts to 60,00,000
kilowatts. Used for a variety of purposes, both domestic and industrial -
and that at a low rate - electric power assumed an important place in
the life of the people. This underlined the necessity for some kind of a
state control on its use, in the interest of the consumer, as well as
of the producer.
TAX ON ELECTRICITY
The Government imposed
a tax on electricity for the first time in 1932. The tax was imposed to
help the State tide over the financial difficulties created by the
trade depression, as the official explanation went. However, like
several other taxes, the tax on electricity settled down to become a
regular feature. The Municipality, as well as many other public bodies,
protested strongly against the new imposition, but it was of no avail.
With the tax added, electricity bills went up by more than fifty per
cent and, as an inevitable result of it, the growth in the consumption
of electricity slowed down. In 1936, and again in 1940, representations
were made to the Government for repeal of the tax. Actually, the half
annas impost of 1932 moved upto three quarters of an anna in 1938, and
to an anna and a quarter in 1939! The latter jump was designed to cover
the expenditure on prohibition.
This is the story of
the early days of electricity in Mumbai - of its arrival and the
expansion of its use. In modern life electricity is next only to air,
water, food and shelter as a necessity. Electricity is certainly a
blessing, but it can very nearly be a curse if man depends too heavily
on it. All that he can do is to take every precaution against the
blessing turning into a curse.
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| 
IndiaTICCA GADIS. These
horse-drawn Victorian carriages that were the only mode of transport to
come to Bombay in 1882 after The Bombay Tramway Company Limited was
formally set up in 1873. Motor taxis were introduced in 1911 whereas
motor buses started plying in 1926. Today, the Victorias in front of the
Taj have been replaced by black and yellow taxis. But, one can still
hire a Ticca Gadi for a negotiated sum and drive along the sea face for
an experience.
![[Tram+in+Delhi.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9P-1rbbF1Xh3y7J9is4b5mBIKD5ZrE-n5exHahXUunVaaDBw156gAOwW6yNjuNFLDyORXmLaucyda9zj5ecBS8udolWeojtI_so7lw9tAcGjfVgR6-tDM2HqdQWkEws0JSP1djUZkjAT/s1600/Tram+in+Delhi.jpg)
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