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State of Chattisgarh - Section

Section 11 in Chhattisgarh State Electricity Supply Code, 2005

11. [1 [Substituted by Notification No. 19/CSERC/2007, dated 16.4.2007.]

The licensee shall take all necessary measures to prevent theft or unauthorized use of electricity or tempering, distress or damage to electrical plants, electric lines, equipments or meters.
11.2The consumer shall not make such use of supply given to him by the licensee which is prejudicial to the interest of the licensee.
(A)Unauthorised use of electricity:
11.3Section 126 of the Act deals with assessment of unauthorized use of electricity. The Chhattishgarh State Electricity Rules, 2006 as notified by the State Government on 22-3-06 (Rules, for short) contain elaborate provisions to deal with such cases. The provisions of these Rules are to be followed by all concerned.
11.4Unauthorized use of electricity shall mean the usage of electricity—
(i)by any artificial means; or
(ii)by a means not authorised by the concerned person or authority or licensee; or
(iii)through a tampered meter ; or
(iv)for a purpose other than for which the usage of electricity has been authorized; or
(v)by use of phase-splitting device to facilitate working of three-phase motors/appliances during the period of single phase supply; or
(vi)through increase in connected load by LT consumers in excess of the load as per the agreement. This, however, will not be applicable to domestic consumers; or
(vii)extension of power supply beyond the area of use as authorised in the agreement; or
(viii)shifting of location of meter; or
(ix)unauthorized alterations in electrical installations; or
(x)disconnection of neutral; or
(xi)through a meter or equipment associated with metering, which has been accidentally damaged.
11.5If on inspection of any place or premises, the licensee comes to the conclusion that any perse i is indulging in unauthorized use of electricity in that place or premises, the licensee may disconnect supply of electricity to such person forthwith. Intimation for such action shall be sent to the person within 24 hours of such disconnection, as per the procedure laid down in the Rules.
11.6The assessing/authorised officer shall prepare the bill for unathorized use of electricity, presuming that such unauthorised use continued for a period of three months immediately preceding the date of inspection in case of domestic and agricultural connections, and for a period of six months immediately preceding the date of inspection in case of all other categories of connections, unless proof is produced to the contrary by the person accused of unauthorized use.In cases where the period of connection is less than the period as mentioned above, the period for assessment will be from the date of connection till the date of inspection.However, in case an electronic meter is installed in the premises, data shall be analyzed to ascertain the exact period during which unauthorised use of electricity continued and such period shall be taken for assessment purposes.
11.7Assessment shall be made at a rate equal to one-and-half times (1 */2 times) the tariff applicable for the relevant category.
11.8The methodology for assessment of consumption by way of unauthorised use of electricity shall be as follows :
(a)In respect of LT consumers :
Units assessed per month = L x D x H, where L is load found connected at the time of inspection in KW;D is number of days per month which shall be taken as 30, during which unauthorised use of electricity is suspected; andH is hours per day, which shall be taken as 8 hours for all consumers except industrial consumers in respect of whom the hours of use shall be as per the hours the industry generally operates in a day which in any case shall not be less than 8 hours.
(b)In respect of HT consumers :
Assessment shall be based on the data obtained from the electronic meter through MRI and shall be the average consumption for three months prior to the date from which unauthorised use has commenced. In the absence of MRI data the normal consumption pattern of the consumer as that of similar industries may be taken for the purpose of billing.
11.9The order or provisional assessment shall be served upon the person in occupation or possession or in charge of the place or premises within a period of 3 days from the date of inspection in the manner as prescribed in the Rules by registered post or by hand and the acknowledgment shall be obtained :Provided that if the amount of provisional assessment is accepted and the assessed amount is deposited within seven days of service of provisional bill, such person shall not be subjected to any further liability or any action by any authority whatsoever.
11.10The licensee shall reconnect the supply on receipt of full amount of provisional assessment. The licensee may also reconnect the supply on receipt of one-third of the provisional assessment amount pending final assessment as per clause 11.12 below.
11.11Any person, who has been served notice under clause 11.9. may file objections, if any, within 7 days from the date of receipt of the provisional bill, to the assessing officer, as designated by the State Government in the Rules, who may, after affording a reasonable opportunity of hearing to such person, pass final order of assessment of electricity charges within one month of the date of the provisional assessment.
11.12Any person aggrieved by the final order may prefer an appeal within 30 days of the final order to an appellate authority as designated by the State Government in the Rules, provided that one-third of the assessed amount is deposited with the licensee and documentary evidence of such deposit has been enclosed with the appeal.
11.13The form of appeal and the manner in which the appeal may be filed shall be as per the CSERC (Procedure for Filing Appeal Before the Appellate Authority) Regulations, 2005 notified on 5-12-05 by the Commission, as amended from time to time.
11.14The order of the appellate authority shall be final.
11.15When a person defaults in making payment of assessed amount, he shall be liable to pay, in addition to the assessed amount, on the expiry of thirty days from the date of order of assessment, an amount of interest at the rate of sixteen percent per annum compounded every six months as provided in Section 127 (6) of the Act.
(B)Theft of Electricity
11.16Section 135 of the Act deals with theft of electricity. The State Electricity Rules contain detailed provision to deal with theft cases, which have to be strictly followed by all concerned.
11.17Whoever, dishonestlya. taps, makes or causes to be made any connection with overhead underground or underwater lines or cables, or service wires or service facilities of a licensee; orb. tampers a meter, installs or uses a tampered meter, current reversing transformer, loop connection or any other device or method, which interferes with accurate or proper registration, calibration or metering of electric current or otherwise results in a manner whereby electricity is stolen or wasted; orc. damages or destroys an electric meter, apparatus, equipment, or wire or causes or allows any of them to be so damaged or destroyed as to interfere with proper or accurate metering of electricity, so as to abstract or consume or use electricity, shall be punishable under the provisions of Section 135 of the Act and the Rules.
11.18Entry, search and seizure for the purpose of detection of theft as per subsection (2) of Section 135 of the Act shall be undertaken by an officer authorised by the State Government in the Rules and such entry, search and seizure shall be carried out as per the procedure laid down therein.
11.19In case theft of electricity is detected in the premises which do not have regular electricity connection, the licensee shall forthwith disconnect the supply to such premises and shall remove the cause of theft immediately by removing the line/cable/plant or illegal meter up to the distribution main and other apparatus which are found being used for the purposes of theft of electricity as per the provisions of the Act and the procedure laid down in the Rules. The licensee may subsequently remove or divert or convert the line, cable or electrical plant to prevent further theft of electricity provided that such action shall not result in any inconvenience or disruption of supply to other consumers.
11.20In case where the person has a regular electricity connection from the licensee and where the theft of electr'city is detected by bypassing the meter or metering equipment and the electrical load, fully or partially, or the connection is found connected directly with the lines, cables or electrical plant; or the meter is found tampered with a dishonest intention, the electric supply to such premises shall be disconnected forthwith by the licensee.
11.21Where it is established that there is a case of theft of energy, the officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government in the Rules shall prepare the bill of theft of electricity as provided in Section 154 (5) of the Act, pending adjudication by the special court, as per the Electricity (Removal of Difficulties) Order dated 8-6-05 [S.O. 790 (E)].
11.22The assessment shall be an amount equivalent to two-and-half times the rates as per applicable tariff for the relevant category for a period of twelve months preceding the date of detection of theft of energy or the exact period of theft if determined, whichever is less. A bill shall be served upon on the person under proper receipt.
11.23The methodology for assessment of consumption due to theft of electricity shall be as follows :
(a)In respect of LT consumers :
Units assessed per month = L x D x H, where L is load found connected at the time of inspection in KW;D is number of days per month which shall be taken as 30, during which unauthorised use of electricity is suspected; andH is hours per day, which shall be taken as 8 hours for all consumers except industrial consumers in respect of whom the hours of use shall be as per the hours the industry generally operates in a day which in any case shall not be less than 8 hours.
(b)In respect of HT consumers:
Assessment shall be based on the data obtained from the electronic meter through MRI and shall be the average consumption for three months prior to the date from which unauthorised use has commenced. In the absence of MRI data the normal consumption pattern of the consumer as that of similar industries may be taken for the purpose of billing.
11.24In making such assessment the authorized officer shall also take into account the representation of the person submitted within 48 hours of the detection of theft or any other evidence he considers relevant. The authorized officer shall record reasons for the assessment made. Charges, if any, paid by the person during the period for which the assessment is done, shall be duly credited if necessary, to avoid duplication of billing for such period.
11.25The authorized officer shall serve an order for charges against the theft of electricity committed by the person within 3 (three) days in the manner as provided in the Rules and the person shaii make payment within 30 days.
11.26The supply shall be restored to the consumer within 48 hours after removal of the cause of theft, provided that the assessed amount is deposited in full. The licensee shall take all measures to avoid recurrence of theft in the same premises before restoration of supply.
11.27The above action shall be without prejudice to the filing criminal proceedings by the licensee in the special court constituted under chapter XV of the Act against the person involved in theft of electricity.Compounding of offences
11.28Compounding of offences shall be as per the provision of Section 152 of the Act. In compounding offences the authorised officer shall act in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Rules.
11.29A person or consumer in custody, in connection with the offence of theft of electricity, shall be set at liberty on payment of sum of money in accordance with the Sub-Section (1) of Section 152 of the Act or the amount as may be specified by the-State Government from time to time. No proceeding shall be instituted or continued against such consumer or person in any criminal court as per Section 152 (2) of the Act.
11.30The compounding of an offence under Section 152 of the Act shall be allowed only once for any person or consumer.
(C)Prevention measures
11.31The Electricity (Removal of Difficulties) Order 2005 [S. O. 790 (E) dated 8th June, 2005] notified by Ministry of Power, Govt, of India mandates adoption of measures to control theft.
11.32In order to reduce and prevent diversion, theft or unauthorized use of electricity or tampering, distress or damage to electrical plant, electric lines or meter, necessary preventive measures shall be taken by the distribution licensee.
11.33The licensee shall arrange to provide tamper proof meter boxes on meters of at least 20% connections every year so as to ensure that within next 5 years meters installed at all the premises have tamper proof meter boxes. The licensee shall simultaneously review the status of the service lines to ensure that it is proper and wherever required, it should be replaced to prevent theft/bypassing of meter.
11.34The licensee shall undertake regular inspection of premises of consumers and keep up necessary vigilance to ensure prevention of theft or unauthorized used of electricity or tampering, distress or damage to electrical plant, electric lines or meter.Priority shall be given in inspection/vigilance to theft-prone areas.
11.35The licensee shall evolve a system and put in place such a system within 6 months, for regular monthly monitoring of consumption of high value consumers, which shall include all the HT connections and LT connections having contract demand/connected load of 25 HP and above. Wide variations in consumption hall be carefully analyzed. The licensee shall arrange prompt inspection in doubtful cases.
11.36The licensee shall arrange to ensure that 33 KV & 11 KV feeder-wise losses are worked out for identified cities and district headquarter towns of the State in phases and thereafter for other areas. The licensee shall take suitable steps for reduction of losses in the pockets of high loss identified by working out losses in the above manner.
11.37The licensee shall install meters on all distribution transformers and carry out energy audit so as to identify high loss pockets and take further suitable action for reduction of losses in such pockets.
11.38The licensee shall endeavour to install remote metering devices on all HT connections on priority for the purpose of monitoring of consumption and prevention of theft of electricity. The licensee shall further endeavour to install remote metering devices on high value LT connection.
11.39The licensee shall arrange to give due publicity through the media, TV and newspapers to bring awareness about the level of commercial losses, its implications on honest consumers and seek their co-operation in prevention and detection of theft or unauthorized use of electricity or tampering, distress or damage to electrical plant, electric lines or meter. The licensee shall also install display boards containing the information about the above at its consumer service related offices.
11.40The licensee may, as early as possible, arrange to suitably display in its website region wise, circle wise, devision wise, sub-station wise and feeder wise losses, efforts made for prevention of diversion of electricity, theft or unathorized use of electricity or tampering, distress or damage to electrical plant, electric lines or meter and results obtained. The website may be updated every quarter.
11.41The licensee shall arrange to provide requisite security force to the authorised officers for their safety. Such security squads shall invariably accompany the authorised officers during raids in order to ensure their safety.
11.42The licensee may replace overhead bare conductors with cables in theft-prone areas to prevent theft by direct hooking of the licensee’s lines.
11.43The licensee shall provide HV distribution system (LT less system) in theft-prone areas using small capacity distribution transformer, wherever necessary.
11.44The licensee is authorized to relocate the meters of existing consumers to an appropriate location so that it is clearly visible and reading can be taken 4 from outside the premises but within the boundary wall and easily accessible for reading, inspection, testing and other related works. In case of doubtful cases where continuous vigil is not possible, the licensee may install check meters on its poles/feeder pillars. In case of repeated theft of electricity the licensee may install billing meters for such connections on iis poles/feeder pillars.
11.45Expenditure on account of prevention of theft shall be a pass-through in the ARR of the licensee in determination of tariff.
11.46A list of cases where theft of electricity has been detected shall be maintained by the licensee. The licensee shall also maintain list of cases to clearly identify where second offence and subsequent offence (s) of theft have been detected and take action as per ti e provisions of the Act.]