SCO NO. 220-221, SECTOR 34-A,
Petition
No.26 of 2009
Date of
hearing: 29.12.2009
Date of
Order: 24.02.2010
In the matter of : OYT Scheme for release of tubewell connections
on priority.
AND
In the matter of: Punjab State Electricity Board, The
Mall,
Present:
Shri Jai Singh Gill, Chairman
Shri
Satpal Singh Pall, Member
For the PSEB: Shri O.P.Garg, Director/Sales
Shri D.S. Dhillon,
A.D.
ORDER
1. It came to the notice of the Commission that
the Punjab State Electricity Board (Board) had introduced an ‘Own Your
Tubewell’ (OYT) scheme for release of AP connections on priority basis which
envisaged recovery from the consumer of the entire cost of providing the
connection including cost of the 11 KV line and distribution transformer. As
the scheme was prima facie in contravention of Regulation 9.1.1 read with
Regulation 10.1(a) of the PSERC (Electricity Supply Code and Related Matters)
Regulations, 2007 (Supply Code) suo-moto proceedings (Petition No.3 of 2009)
were initiated and a notice was given to the Board to show cause as to why implementation
of this scheme should not be suspended. In Order dated 10.12.2009 passed by the
Commission in Petition No.3 of 2009, it was observed that the introduction of this scheme was clearly in
contravention of the directions of the Commission on which account a notice
under Section 142 of the Electricity Act would be separately issued.
Accordingly a notice was issued to the Board on 11.12.2009 to show cause as to
why action may not be taken against it under Section 142 of the Electricity Act
2003 for issuing Commercial Circulars No.44/2007 and 62/2008 dated 25.8.2007 and 16.10.2008 respectively
concerning the OYT scheme in contravention of the directions of the Commission.
2. The
Board filed reply to the notice. It is
stated in the reply that these Commercial Circulars were issued in pursuance
of the directions of the Punjab Government as a matter of State Policy and
there was no intention of the Board to violate the provisions of Supply Code.
The Board has prayed that proceedings in respect of notice issued to it under Section 142 of the
Electricity Act may kindly be dropped.
3. The
Commission notes that in its letter No.3500 dated 8.8.2005, the Board had been
directed to ensure that all circulars involving any change in the liability of
the consumers should in future be issued only after obtaining the Commission’s prior approval. Admittedly the Board did not
take approval of the Commission before issue of the circulars in question and
has thus contravened the directions of the Commission. Moreover, the Board has
been unable to bring out any reason why the Commission’s approval could not be
sought before the scheme was implemented through the Commercial Circulars
referred to above. In these circumstances, the Commission is of the view that
there is need to take serious notice of the Board’s omission in this respect
and for that reason further action under section 142 of the Act is warranted.
However, taking a lenient view, the Commission imposes a penalty of Rs.20,000/-
on the Board for this lapse.
Sd/- Sd/-
(Satpal Singh Pall)
(Jai Singh Gill)
Member Chairman
Dated: 24.02.2010