RAJASTHAN ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION

JAIPUR

 

NOTIFICATION

Jaipur, 29th March 2003

 

No. Secy / RERC/REG/13                                           Date: 29th March 2003

                       

            In exercise of powers conferred on it by Section 57 read with Section 9, 33 and 34 of the Rajasthan Power Sector Reforms Act 1999 and all powers enabling it in that behalf, the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission after consulting the Commission Advisory Committee and other stakeholders, hereby makes the following regulations, namely:

 

The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (Distribution Licensee’s   Standards of Performance) Regulations, 2003

 

 

SHORT TITLE, COMMENCEMENT AND INTERPRETATION

 

1          (i)            These Regulations may be called the Rajasthan

Electricity Regulatory Commission (Distribution Licensee’s Standards of Performance) Regulations, 2003

(ii)        These Regulations shall be applicable to all Distribution and Retail Supply Licensees (hereinafter referred as Licensees) 

(iii)             They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Rajasthan Gazette.

 

2          Unless the context otherwise requires, words or expressions occurring in these regulations shall bear the same meaning as in the Rajasthan Power Sector Reforms Act and Regulations framed there under or in absence thereof, the meaning as commonly understood in the electricity supply industry.

 

STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE

3          The licensee is required to maintain standards of performance for supply of electricity to all consumers in the manner prescribed hereinafter in these regulations. The limits prescribed in these standards refer to the maximum time required to be taken to perform different activities of consumer service.  It shall be the endeavour of the licensee to provide best possible service well within time limits specified in these regulations.

 

(i)                 The licensee shall register every complaint made by a consumer whether verbally or in writing regarding failure/interruption of power supply, quality of power supply, meters/meter boxes/metering system’s service line, payment of bills and other services relating to power supply, in a register to be maintained for this purpose. A unique number shall be allotted to each complaint. This complaint number shall be conveyed to the consumer. The licensee shall ensure redressal of all complaints promptly.

(ii)               Complaints in respect of supply of electricity, its metering, billing and payment thereof, shall be made at specified offices of the licensee. Licensee shall convey the name of office(s), its address(s) and telephone numbers where the consumer can lodge complaints, at least once with the electricity bill and also display it at the AEn’s office.

(iii)              The office where a complaint is registered   shall dispose of it and if any instruction/sanction is to be obtained from a higher authority, it shall be obtained by the complaint registering office. The higher authority may also directly communicate the decision. The complainant should not be required to approach such higher authority.

(iv)            Complaints against non-registration of   complaints and failure to perform within the time limits and/or to meet the performance targets, as specified in these regulations, shall be made to the concerned Executive Engineer and in case of unsatisfactory disposal of complaint to Superintending Engineer   (O&M).

(v)             In case a consumer is not satisfied with the disposal of complaint even after taking the issue at the level of Executive Engineer/ Superintending Engineer, he can approach the complaint redressal committee as indicated in sub clause (vi) below.

(vi)             The licensee shall ensure holding of complaint redressal meetings where entry shall be free and consumers will be able to file their complaints.  These meeting shall be held in the office of Assistant Engineer on 10th of every month and in the office of the Superintending Engineer on 20th of the same month.  Minutes of the Assistant Engineer level meeting and action taken report will be available to the Superintending Engineer at the time of meeting to be held by him on 20th of the same month. The redressal committee shall dispose of the matter in not more than three meetings.

 

4            Interruption in Power Supply

(i)                 The licensee shall attend complaints of no voltage*/interruption in Power Supply on account of any reason including blowing of HT/LT fuse at consumer premises or of distribution transformer/MCB trouble or due to loose connections/disconnection at meter, MCB or service line, and shall restore power supply, if not due to line fault or distribution and/or power transformer(s) failure, within 4 hours of receiving the complaint in all industrial, municipal and cantonment areas and in case of Military and PHED installations while  within 24 hours in rural   areas. The licensee shall maintain as far as possible uninterrupted supply of power to Railways and in case of any disruption, restore the supply on top priority basis. Complaints at consumer premises will be attended normally between     8 a.m. to 10 p.m.   Individual complaints of consumers received during night times (10 p.m. to 8 a.m.) shall be attended to within 4 working hours of the next day in industrial, municipal and cantonment areas and in case of military and PHED installations and next day in rural   areas.

(ii)               Within one hour of receipt of complaint, licensee shall find out whether it is due to line fault, failure of distribution transformer or power transformer and/or its switchgear. For any subsequent complaint or enquiries, the licensee shall inform the consumer of this fact and likely time by which the power supply will be restored.

(iii)               In case of routine line fault, the licensee shall restore the power supply to the consumer within 8 working hours of receiving the complaint /information in industrial, municipal and cantonment areas as also in case of Military and PHED installations and within 24 hours of receiving the complaint /information in rural areas.

(iv)             In case of failure of distribution transformer (i.e.11/0.4 KV) the licensee shall effect replacement of transformer and restore power supply within 2 days of receiving the complaint/ information in industrial, municipal and cantonment areas as also in case of Military and PHED installations and within 3 days of receiving the complaint/ information in rural areas

(v)             In case of failure of power transformer or associated switchgear, the licensee shall replace/repair it within 7 days of receipt of complaint/information, efforts will be made by the licensee to restore the supply in 2 days, if technically feasible.

(vi)            Two formats indicating procedure of registration of complaints at the Complaint Centre and for compiling data about various complaints as per classification are appended herewith at Appendix-A and B respectively.   

 

5            Quality of Power Supply

(i)        The licensee shall attend to consumer complaints in respect of the following   conditions within the time specified vide clause 4. 

(a)            Neutral voltage exceeding 2% of the supply voltage.

(b)            Low or high voltage (i.e. phase voltage exceeding tolerance as per IE Rules).

(c)             Voltage fluctuations or flickering.

(d)            High leakage current.

(e)             Supply voltage with individual harmonics exceeding 1%

(f)               Streetlights off or not operating properly.

(g)            Inadequate electrical clearances.

 

In case rectification is not feasible within the time specified, consumer shall be informed within seven days of likely time by which it will be accomplished. In case, installation of consumer is causing these conditions and installation is unsafe to life or equipment, licensee shall advise consumer to effect rectification or isolate the faulty installation immediately. The Licensee may disconnect supply till faulty installation is rectified or isolated as the case may be. In case installation of licensee is unsafe, the same will be guarded, isolated or disconnected, as may be necessary:

(ii)        The licensee shall, within 10 days of original complaint, either improve the quality of power supply or inform the consumer, on enquiry by him, about the causes of poor quality of power supply, if the same is beyond licensee’s control.

(iii)       The complaint regarding low voltage arising due to inadequacy in the distribution system requiring upgradation of distribution lines, transformers or installation of capacitors shall be resolved within 180 days subject to availability of material and techno-economic viability. The complainants shall be informed in writing.

 

6          Period of Schedule Outages

Period of interruption due to scheduled outage shall be specified well in advance by public notice through newspapers, local radio/TV stations etc. and as far as possible shall not exceed 10 hours on any day. The licensee shall ensure that supply is normally restored by 6 p.m.

 

7          Reliability of the system

(i)                 Reliability of the distribution system operated by the licensee shall be computed on the basis of number and duration of sustained interruptions in a year. In a power delivery system, it may take a few minutes to restore power after transient faults or to reroute power in the network to restore supply to the affected area where a large number of customers are involved. Such momentary interruptions of up to ten minutes shall not be considered but sustained interruptions of more than ten minutes duration shall be considered for judging the reliability of the system.

(ii)               Reliability standards of the licensee shall be judged by the following two indices:

(a)            System average interruption frequency index, which shall be calculated by dividing the total number of sustained interruptions to consumers in a year by the total number of consumers served. An interruption in supply to a consumer shall be considered as one interruption to one consumer. In case of failure of a line or transformer, number of interruptions shall be equal to the number of consumers affected. The index shall be expressed as number of interruptions per consumer per year and shall be calculated annually.

(b)            System average interruption duration index, which shall be calculated by dividing the total minutes of sustained interruption in supply to consumers in a year by the total number of consumers served. The index shall be expressed as number of minutes of interruption per consumer per year and shall be calculated annually. 

(iii)              While calculating the above indices, the following types of interruptions shall not be taken into account:

(a)            Planned outages

(b)            Momentary outages of ten minutes or less

(c)             Outages due to failure of upstream power system including generation and transmission network.

(d)            Outages due to reasons beyond licensee’s control like fire, earthquake, floods, storms, and riots.

(iv)            For calculating reliability indices, licensee shall maintain data at each sub station in the form prescribed in appendix ‘A’ and draw an abstract every month in appendix ‘B’. The licensee shall compile monthly data for each Circle to ascertain Circle wise reliability indices of the system.

 

8          The Commission shall fix benchmark for standards of reliability on the basis of data collected for one year and revise the levels to be achieved from time to time for ensuring improvement in the performance of licensee.

 

9            Complaints on Meter/Metering System

(i)        The licensee shall regularly inspect, check and test the meter with the following periodicity:

(a)          All large & MIP Industrial and Non Domestic supply consumers at least once in six months.

(b)          Other consumers at least once in three years.

(c)          Licensee shall inspect, check or test the meter within 21 working days of receiving a complaint.

(d)          During inspection, checking and testing   if the meter or metering system is found to be defective (e.g. stuck up, running slow, fast, creeping or improperly recording or not functioning as per specifications), the licensee shall inform the consumer and replace the meter within 60 days of receiving the complaint or detection. In case of missing/defective/broken seals or defective wiring, consumer shall be informed and then the meter /seal shall be replaced.

(e)          If a complaint is made by the consumer about the working of the meter and he requests for replacement, it shall be replaced within fifteen days.

(ii)        In all such cases of the meter being removed/replaced test/checking report if the consumer is present otherwise within 3 days of removal /replacement of meter, shall be supplied to the consumer. In case meter is to be further tested in licensee’s laboratory, its test report shall also be supplied to the consumer. Consumer can opt to seal the meter before its removal from site and can also be present during testing on the date to be notified by the licensee. During inspection or at the time of testing, if the meter is found tampered, the licensee may take appropriate action as permitted under law.

 

(iii)       In case burning of the meter/metering system is due to causes attributable to consumer (like tampering, defects in consumer’s installation, excessive leakage to meter due to falling of water on meter, unauthorized connection of additional load by the consumer etc.), then meter security will be adjusted towards cost and consumer shall be served notice to deposit meter security amount afresh and   cost of associated equipments/materials (e.g. meter box, MCBs, and/or service line etc.).  Supply shall be restored only after receiving payment. The meter/metering system shall be replaced within 60 days of receiving payment and necessary corrective action taken by the consumer/Discom to avoid future damage to meter.

 

10            Release of New Electric Connection

10.1    Domestic and Non-domestic

 An applicant requesting a distribution company to provide new electric connection for general purpose (Domestic and Non-domestic) shall be allotted a priority number. In urban area, the company shall normally issue demand note within 21 days of receipt of application and shall release the connection within 30 days of receipt of demand note amount and completion of requisite formalities in urban area and within 45 days in rural area.

     Above time limit to release the connection after the receipt of demand note amount, will be subject to the condition that distribution system exists and connection is technically feasible.   In case new distribution system is to be laid or existing distribution system is to be augmented, aforesaid time limit will count from the date, distribution system is laid/augmented & the likely duration will be conveyed in demand note.

 

10.2    Industrial connection:

   Industrial connections are to be released, in time bound manner as detailed below:

TIME SCHEDULE

S.No.

ITEM/ACTITIVITY

TIME LIMIT (Within)

 1

 Loads up to 60 HP

Issue of Demand Notice

Release of connection

 

Within 21 days of receipt of application.

Within 30 days after compliance of formalities/ demand notice, if no augmentation is required otherwise 45 days.

 2

  Loads above 60 HP and up to 300 KW

Issue of Demand notice

 

Release of connection

 

 

 

Within 30 days of receipt of application.

 

Within 60 days after compliance of Demand Notice.

 3

  Loads above 300 KW and up to 3000 KW

Issue of feasibility clearance

Issue of Demand notice

 

Release of connection

 

 

Within 45 days of receipt of application.

Within 60 days of receipt

of application.

Within 75 days after compliance of Demand Notice/formalities by prospective consumers.

4

  Loads above 3000 KW and up to 33 KV Supply

Issue of feasibility clearance

Issue of Demand notice

Release of connection

 

 

Within 45 days of receipt of application.

Within 60 days of receipt of application.

Within 90 days after completion of Demand notice/formalities by prospective consumers.

 5

  132 KV and higher voltage supply

 

Issue of feasibility clearance

Issue of demand notice

 

Release of connection

 

 

Within 90 days of receipt of application.

Within 120 days of receipt of application.

 

Within 180 days after completion of Demand notice/formalities by the applicant if no forest clearance is involved.

 Note:  The time mentioned in the schedule would be reckoned after completed application has been presented. 

 

Above time limit to release the connection after the receipt of demand note amount, will be subject to the condition that distribution system exists and connection is technically feasible In case new distribution system is to be laid or existing distribution system is to be augmented, aforesaid time limit will count from the date, distribution system is laid/augmented & the likely duration will be conveyed in demand note.

 

10.3            Agricultural Connections 

For agriculture connections, release of connection shall be subject to the provisions of the Annual Plan and approval of the investment by the Commission. The Annual Plan shall incorporate policy directive, if any, issued by the State Government.   Time limit to release the connection under this category will be 120 days from receipt of payment of demand note or due date of demand note, whichever is later, subject to the condition that distributing system exists and connection is technically feasible. In case a new distributing system is to be laid, time shall be reckoned from the date of energizing of the distributing system.

 

11         Complaints regarding electricity bills

(i)                 The licensee shall acknowledge a consumer's           complaint on wrong billing or incorrect application of tariff or non-receipt of bill or inadequate time allowed to effect payment, immediately if reported in person or telephonically and within 7 working days if the complaint is received by post.

(ii)        The licensee shall resolve a complaint regarding arithmetical errors or non receipt or inadequate time for payment of electricity bills due to him or served to him, same day if made in person and on the day of acknowledgement, if complaint is made by post.   In other cases and also, where any additional information is required to be collected, the complaint shall be resolved within 7 days of receipt.

(iii)       In case the complaint of the consumer is genuine and revision of bill becomes necessary, the due date for payment of bill would be reckoned from the date of the revised bill.  For purpose of calculating additional charges for delayed payment or for disconnection of supply also, the date of revised bill shall be considered. 

(iv)      If a consumer, after being disconnected requests for details of amount due, including reconnection and other charges it shall be treated as a complaint.

 

12            Reconnection of supply

Reconnection of supply shall be effected   within the time period specified at clause 10 above after the deposit of due amount (including reconnection charges) and production of receipt. 

 

13        Other Complaints: 

Any other complaint (including that of recurring nature) shall be enquired in to within 30 days of complaint and rectified within 60 days thereafter.

 

14              Overall Performance Standards

(i)        The Commission will review the overall performance standards annually.

    

(ii) Reports and statistics of overall performance standards as above shall be reported quarterly to the Commission.

 

(iii)            Failure to meet overall performance standards shall entitle a consumer or a prospective consumer to relief as specified by the Commission & subject the licensee to such fines and charges which the Commission may impose as per Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission  (Fines & Charges) Regulations, 2002 and /or tariff order.

 

 15        Exemption

(A) Adherence to specific standard of performance may be relaxed during Force Majeure conditions such as war, mutiny, civil commotion, riot, flood, cyclone, storm, lightening, earthquake, grid failure, and strike/curfew, lockout, fire affecting the licensee's installations and activities and also under wind or rainy conditions where safety of electrical equipment and personnel is not possible.

 (B)            Commission under specific circumstances may relax provisions of regulations in general or in specific cases for the period specified in its order.

 

        By order of the Commission,

 

 

 

 

(P.Dayal)

Secretary

APPENDIX-A

 

Format for registering the complaints at complaint centres/JEn/AEn offices

Name of office_____________________________

 

S.N.

Time & Date

Name, Address, & A/c No. of the complainant & unique no. of complaint

Complaints classification

 

 

Time & Date of redressal of grievance

Total time taken

(in Hrs/mts)

No. of Consumers affected

 

 

 

  Total duration of Interruption  (7X8)=9       (in hrs./mts)

Whether redressed within stipulated time as per standards of performance

Yes/No

Remarks

Signature of AEn/ JEn/ ARO /CCA

Nature of complaints

 

 

 

Complaint classification & its No.

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

(i)                   Separate register shall be maintained for complaints of Type-A& other than Type-A.

(ii)                  Compilation will be made every month.  Unattended complaints may be brought forward after each intervals, so that a true picture of the pendency is reflected. 

 

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPLAINTS:

(A)       Interruption in power supply.

(i)             Loose connections from pole

(ii)            Interruption due to line breakdown

(iii)           Interruption due to failure of transformer

 

(B) Quality of power supply

(i) Ordinary case, which requires no augmentation.

(ii)            Where augmentation is required.

 

(C) Meters

(i)    Stopped/Defective Meters.

(ii)   Billing on average basis for more than two bills

 

(D) Overhead lines

(i) Loose Wires

(ii)            Inadequate ground clearance

 

(E) Bills

(i) For current bills where no additional information is required.

(ii)            Where additional information relating to correctness of reading etc. is required.

 

 (F) Service connections (Domestic & Non Domestic)       

(i) Where extension of mains is not required.

(ii)            Where extension of mains is required.

(iii)           Modification in connected load.

(iv)         Name change/reconnection.

(G)   Refund of amount due in regard to temporary connection.

(H)    Others

 

APPENDIX-B

 

 

 

REGISTER FOR COMPILING THE COMPLAINTS CLASSIFICATIONWISE

 

 

MONTH: ………………………………………………..

 

NAME OF OFFICE: …………………………………..

 

 

Classification

Pending complaints of previous month

Complaints received during the month.

Total Complaints

No. of Complaints redressed during the month.

 

Balance Complaints to be redressed.

 

 

(4) – (9)

In stipulated time

Beyond stipulated time

Within 50% of stipulated time.

Within stipulated time.

Up to double the stipulated time

More than double the stipulated time

Total

 

(5) to (8)

 

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9

13

A(i)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A(ii)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A(iii)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B(i)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B(ii)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C