THE CHHATTISGARH STATE ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION (STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE IN DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY) REGULATIONS, 2006

PREAMBLE

In exercise of the powers under Section 181 (za) and (zb) and also under Section 86 (1) (i) read with Sections 57 and 59 of the Electricity Act 2003 (No. 36 of 2003) and all powers enabling it in that behalf, the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission hereby frames the following Regulations related to standards of performance in distribution of electricity.

Regulation - 1. Short title, Commencement and Application.

1.1   These Regulations shall be called the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Standards of Performance in Distribution of Electricity) Regulations, 2006.

1.2   These Regulations shall be applicable to all the Distribution licensees and deemed licensees engaged in the distribution of electricity in the State of Chhattisgarh.

1.3   These Regulations shall extend to the whole of the State of Chhattisgarh.

1.4   They shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Chhattisgarh Rajpatra.

Regulation - 2. Definitions.

2.1   In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a)      'Act' means the Electricity Act, 2003 (No. 36 of 2003);

(b)      'Area of supply' means the area within which a licensee is authorized by his license to supply electricity;

(c)      'Commission' means the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission;

(d)      'Extra High Tension/Extra High Voltage' means the voltage exceeding 33000 volts under normal conditions;

(e)      'High Tension/High Voltage' means the voltage exceeding 650 volts but not exceeding 33000 volts under normal conditions;

(f)       'Licensee' means a person who has been granted a distribution license under Section 14 and includes a person deemed to be a licensee under the same section of the Act and also a deemed licensee under section 172 of the Act;

(g)      'Low Tension/Low Voltage' means the voltage that does not exceed 650 Volts under normal conditions;

(h)     'Rural areas' means any area or areas comprising a village or group of villages, as defined under the constitution (Seventy-Third Amendment) Act, 1992; and

(i)       'Town and cities' means areas other than rural areas.

2.2. Words or expressions used and not defined in these Regulations shall bear the same meaning as in the Electricity Act, 2003 or in the absence thereof, the meaning as commonly understood in the electricity supply industry.

Regulation - 3. Standards of Performance.

3.1. The standards of performance specified in Schedule-I of these Regulations shall be the guaranteed standards of performance, and the minimum standards of service the licensee shall achieve and maintain in the discharge of his obligations as a licensee.

3.2. The standards of performance specified in Schedule-II of these Regulations shall be the overall standards of performance, which the licensee shall seek to achieve in the discharge of his obligations as a licensee.

3.3   The licensee shall maintain relevant records regarding the standards of performance consumer-wise in order to give a fair treatment to all consumers and avoid any dispute regarding violation of standards.

Regulation - 4.Compensation.

4.1. The licensee shall register every complaint of a consumer relating to failure of power supply, quality of power supply, meters and payment of bills etc., at the designated office and intimate the complaint number immediately to the consumer.

4.2. If the licensee fails to meet the guaranteed standards of performance specified in Schedule-I, it shall be liable to pay to the affected consumer(s), monetary compensation at rates as indicated against each of the guaranteed standards of performance in the annexure to Schedule-I, provided that in serious cases of non-compliance with the standards of performance or default in compliance, the Commission may enhance the amount of compensation either suo-motu or on a complaint by consumer(s).

4.3. All payments of compensation shall be made by the licensee by way of adjustment against existing, current and/or future bills for supply of electricity.

4.4. With a view to allow sufficient time to the licencee for preparation for compliance with the standards, the provision regarding compensation as per clause 4.2 above shall be applicable from the date indicated against each standard of performance in the annexure to Schedule-I and not from the date of notification of these Regulations.

Regulation - 5.Procedure for payment of compensation.

5.1   The consumer shall have to bring to the notice of the licensee the standard(s) of performance which have been violated and accordingly claim compensation amount from the licensee. The consumer shall submit the claim in an application, in Form A appended to these Regulations. The licensee shall designate officers who shall acknowledge consumers' claims and delegate adequate powers at different levels for settlement and payment of compensation. Such delegation shall be effected as early as practicable but well before the provisions of clause 4.4 comes into force.

5.2. The licensee shall take a decision on the claim of the consumer and if found liable, shall pay the amount to the consumer within 90 (ninety) days from the date of receipt of application by way of adjustment as per clause 4.3 above.

5.3   If the licensee fails to pay the compensation or otherwise fails to dispose of the application to the satisfaction of the consumer within the prescribed time, the aggrieved consumer may approach the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum established in terms of Section 42 of the Act and the Forum shall consider such application.

Regulation - 6. Information on Standards of Performance.

6.1. In accordance with the provision of section 59(1) of the Act, every licensee shall furnish the following information to the Commission:

(a)      A quarterly report on the level of performance achieved in respect of matters covered in Schedule I and II of these Regulations.

(b)      A quarterly report on the number of cases in which compensation was payable under these Regulations and the amount of compensation paid/payable in each case.

6.2   The Commission shall arrange for publication of the above information furnished by the licensees, at least once in a year, in the manner as it deemed fit.

Regulation - 7. Exemption.

7.1. The standards of performance specified in these Regulations may be kept in abeyance by the Commission during force majeure conditions such as war, mutiny, civil commotion, riot, flood, cyclone, lightning, earthquake or other force or cause beyond the control of the licensee and strike, lockout, fire, etc. affecting the licensee's installations and activities.

7.2. The Commission may by a general order issued for the purpose and after hearing the licensee and the affected consumer group, absolve the licensee of the liability to compensate the consumers for any default in the performance of any standard, if the Commission is satisfied that such default is for reasons other than those attributable to the licensee and further that the licensee has otherwise made efforts to fulfill his obligations.

Regulation - 8. Issue of orders and practice directions.

Subject to the provisions of the Act and these Regulations, the Commission may, from time to time, issue orders and practice directions in regard to the implementation of these Regulations and procedures to be followed.

Regulation - 9. Power to remove difficulties.

9.1. If any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of the provisions of these Regulations, the Commission may, by general or special order, direct the licensee to do anything, not being inconsistent with the provisions of the Act, which appears to it to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing the difficulties.

9.2. The licensee may make an application to the Commission and seek suitable orders to remove any difficulty that may arise in implementation of these Regulations.

Regulation - 10. Power to Amend.

The Commission may, at any time, add, vary, alter, modify or amend any provisions of these regulations, or the schedules attached to these Regulations.

Regulation - 11. Savings.

Nothing in these Regulations shall affect the rights and privileges of the consumers under any other law including the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (Act 68 of 1986).

Note: In case of any difference in the interpretation or understanding of the provisions of the Hindi version of these Regulations with that of the English version (the original version), the latter will prevail and in case of any dispute in this regard, the decision of the Commission shall be final and binding.

SCHEDULE – I

(Refer to clauses 3.1, 4.2 and 6.1)

GUARANTEED STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE

I. Restoration of Power Supply

(1)     On receipt of a complaint regarding failure of supply, the licensee shall inform the consumer in case he so desires, the likely time by which the power supply shall be restored.

(2)     Normal Fuse-off calls: Normal fuse-off call shall include replacement of HT drop out fuses and fuses on L.T. side of distribution transformers or at the consumer premises. Normal fuse-off call shall be attended to within 4 hours in cities/towns and within 24 hours in rural areas.

(3)     Overhead Line Breakdown: There may be major and minor line breakdowns. Major breakdown may require replacement of conductor, structures etc. Minor line breakdowns in cities/towns shall be attended to within 6 hours and in rural areas within 24 hours. Major line breakdowns shall be attended to within 24 hours in cites/towns and within 72 hours in rural areas.

(4)     Distribution transformer (DT) failure: The licensee shall restore supply in case of distribution transformer failure by replacing the transformer within 3 days in cities and towns and within 7 days in rural areas. The feasibility of restoring the supply through nearby distribution transformer shall, however, be explored first.

(5)     Scheduled Shutdown: Interruption in power supply due to scheduled outages, other than the load shedding, shall be notified by the licensee at least 24 hours in advance and the interruption shall not exceed 12 hours in a day. The licensee shall ensure that supply is restored not later than 5 PM in winter (Oct - Feb) and 6 PM in the summer season (Mar - Sept). The scheduled load shedding programme shall be displayed on the notice boards of distribution centres and be published in at least two newspapers of the affected area. Major industry associations/other consumer associations and HT and other important consumers should be given prior intimation about such shutdowns.

II. Quality of Power Supply

Voltage Variations: The licensee shall maintain voltages at the point of commencement of supply to a consumer within the limits stipulated hereunder, with reference to declared voltage:

(a)      In the case of Low Voltage, +6% and -6%;

(b)      in the case of High Voltage, +6% and -9%; and,

(c)      in the case of Extra High Voltage, +10% and -12.5%.

No compensation on account of voltage variations shall be payable to industrial and agricultural consumers who do not provide capacitors as prescribed.

III. Complaints about meters

(1)     The licensee shall inspect and check the correctness of meter within 7 working days of receipt of a complaint. If meter is not working (stuck up, running slow or fast or creeping) the licensee shall arrange to replace the meter at licensee's own cost within 15 days in towns/cities and 30 days in rural areas.

(2)     If a meter is burnt out it shall be replaced at the licensee's own cost within 7 days of complaint, if the burning of meter is due to causes attributable to licensee. If the meter is burnt due to causes attributable to the consumer, the licensee shall serve a notice to the consumer for payment of cost of meter within 7 days and shall replace the meter within 7 days of receiving the payment from the consumer. Necessary corrective action shall also be taken to avoid damage to the meter in future.

IV. Applications for new connections/additional Load

The licensee shall be guided by and comply with the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Supply Code in matters of releasing of new connections/additional loads to consumers in the following cases

(a)      where power supply can be provided from existing network,

(b)      cases where power supply requires extension of distribution mains; and

(c)      cases where erection of substation is required to release supply

The various services and the time limits for rendering the services as specified in the Supply Code are summarized below:

Table-A

Note: The licensee shall not, however, be held responsible for the delay, if any, in extending supply, if the same is on account of problems arising out of court cases, relating to statutory clearances, right of way, acquisition of land, or the delay in consumer's obligation to obtain approval of Chief Electrical Inspector for his High Tension or Extra High Tension installation, etc. over which the licensee has no control.

V. Transfer of ownership and conversion of services

The licensee shall give effect to transfer of ownership, change of category and conversion of the existing services from low tension to high tension and vice versa within the following time limits:

TABLE-B

VI. Complaints about consumer's bills

In case the complaint is genuine and revision of a bill already issued becomes necessary, the due date for payment of bill shall be reckoned from the date of the revised bill, for the purposes of disconnection of supply or for levy of additional charges for belated payment. The licensee will restore supply to a consumer, whose supply has been disconnected due to non-payment of electricity bills, as per the schedule after receipt of production of proof of payment by the consumer.

Annexure to schedule-I

SCHEDULE OF GUARANTEED PERFORMANCE STANDARD AND COMPENSATION PAYABLE TO CONSUMER

* No compensation is payable in case the arrears of revenue of the area covered by the DT is more than 50%.

SCHEDULE-II

(Refer to clauses 3.2 and 6.1)

OVERALL STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE

Reliability Indices

The reliability/outage indices prescribed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard 1366 of 1998 for the distribution licensee are:

(a)      System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI)

(b)      System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI)

(c)      Momentary Average Interruption Frequency Index (MAIFI)

Method to compute Distribution System Reliability Indices

The indices shall be computed for the distribution licensee as a whole by stacking, for each month all the 11KV/33KV feeders in the supply area, excluding those serving predominantly agricultural loads, and then aggregating the number and duration of all interruptions in that month for each feeder. The indices would then be computed using the following formulae:

"This content is in vernacular language. Kindly email us at info@legitquest.com for this content."

Ai = Total number of sustained interruptions (each longer than 5 minutes) on ith feeder for the month

Ni = Connected load of ith feeder affected due to each interruption

Nt = Total connected load at 11KV in the Distribution Licensee's supply area

n = number of 11KV feeders in the licensed area of supply (excluding those serving predominantly agricultural loads)

"This content is in vernacular language. Kindly email us at info@legitquest.com for this content."

Bi = Total duration of all sustained interruptions on ith feeder for the month.

"This content is in vernacular language. Kindly email us at info@legitquest.com for this content."

Ci = Total number of momentary interruptions (each less than or equal to 5 minutes) on ith feeder for the month

Note: The feeders must be segregated into rural and urban and the value of the indices must be reported separately for each month.

(i)       The licensee shall compute the value of these indices separately for feeders serving predominantly agricultural loads. The methodology for computation of indices shall remain the same as in the case of other feeders.

(ii)      The licensee shall compute and report the monthly value of these indices annually from 2006-07 onwards. Based on the information provided by the Licensees, the Commission would notify the target levels for these indices annually.

SCHEDULE OF OVERALL STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE