Himachal Pradesh Gazette, No. 146, 12 October 2010

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राजपत्र, हिमाचल प्रदेशराजपत्र, हिमाचल प्रदेशराजपत्र, हिमाचल प्रदेशराजपत्र, हिमाचल प्रदेश हिमाचल प्रदेश राज्य शासन द्वारा प्रकाशित हिमाचल प्रदेश राज्य शासन द्वारा प्रकाशित हिमाचल प्रदेश राज्य शासन द्वारा प्रकाशित हिमाचल प्रदेश राज्य शासन द्वारा प्रकाशित शिमला,शिमला,शिमला,शिमला, मंगलमंगलमंगलमंगलववववारारारार, , , , 12121212 अक्तूअक्तूअक्तूअक्तूबरबरबरबर, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010////20202020 आश्विनआश्विनआश्विनआश्विन,,,, 1932 1932 1932 1932

हिमाचल प्रदेश सरकारहिमाचल प्रदेश सरकारहिमाचल प्रदेश सरकारहिमाचल प्रदेश सरकार

पशुपालन विभागपशुपालन विभागपशुपालन विभागपशुपालन विभाग

अधिसूचना

शिमला-2, 29 सितम्बर, 2010

संख्संख्संख्संख्या या या या एएचवाई-एएएचवाई-एएएचवाई-एएएचवाई-ए (3)-10/2010(3)-10/2010(3)-10/2010(3)-10/2010....----हिमाचल प्रदेश की राज्यपाल, भारत के संविधान के अनुच्छेद 309 के परन्तुक द्वारा प्रदत्त शक्तियों का प्रयोग करते हुए, इस विभाग की अधिसूचना संख्या एएचवाई-ए (3)-2/04, तारीख 12.7.2006 द्वारा अधिसूचित हिमाचल प्रदेश पशुपालन विभाग, दफ्तरी, वर्ग-IV (अराजपत्रित), भर्ती और प्रोन्नति नियम, 2006 में और संशोधन करने के लिए निम्नलिखित नियम बनाती हैं, अर्थात :-

146-राजपत्र/2010-12-10-2010 (5453) 5454 राजपत्र, हिमाचल प्रदेश, 12 अक्तूबर, 2010/20 आश्विन, 1932 1111.... संक्षिप्त नाम और आरम्भसंक्षिप्त नाम और आरम्भसंक्षिप्त नाम और आरम्भसंक्षिप्त नाम और आरम्भ....----(1) इन नियमों का संक्षिप्त नाम हिमाचल प्रदेश पशुपालन विभाग, दफ्तरी, वर्ग-IV (अराजपत्रित), भर्ती और प्रोन्नति नियम, 2010 है ।

(2) ये नियम राजपत्र, हिमाचल प्रदेश में प्रकाशित किए जाने की तारीख से प्रवृत्त होंगे । 2222.... उपाबन्ध-'क' का संशोधनउपाबन्ध-'क' का संशोधनउपाबन्ध-'क' का संशोधनउपाबन्ध-'क' का संशोधन....----हिमाचल प्रदेश पशुपालन विभाग दफ्तरी, वर्ग-IV (अराजपत्रित), भर्ती और प्रोन्नति नियम, 2006 के उपाबन्ध-'क' में ; -

(क) स्तम्भ संख्या-4 के सामने विद्यामान उपबन्धों के स्थान पर निम्नलिखित रखा जाएगा, अर्थात :- पे बैण्ड 4900-10680/-रूपए 1650/-रूपए ग्रेड पे ।

आदेश द्वारा, हस्ताक्षरित/- सचिव (पशुपालन)।

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[Authoritative English text of this Department Notification No. Ahy-A(3)-10/2010 dated 29-

9-2010 as required under clause (3) of Article 348 of the constitution of India].

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

Shimla-2, the 29 September, 2010

No. Ahy-A(3)-10/2010.—In exercise of the powers conferred by proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India, the Governor, Himachal Pradesh, is pleased to make Recruitment and Promotion Rules for the post of Daftri, Class-IV (Non-Gazetted) in the Department of Animal Husbandry, Himachal Pradesh Rules 2006 notified this Department Notification No. AHY-A(3)- 2/04 dated 12.7.2006, namely :-

1. Short title and Commencement.—(1) These rules may be called the Himachal Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department, Dartfi, Class-IV (Non-Gazetted), Recruitment and Promotion Rules, 2010.

(2) These Rules shall come into force from the date of publication in the Rajpatra, Himachal Pradesh.

2. Amendment of "Annexure-A".—In the "Annexure–A" to the Himachal Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department, Daftari (Class-IV) Non –Gazetted recruitment & Promotion Rules- 2006.

(a) For the existing provisions against Col. No. 4 the following shall be substituted, namely :-

Pay Band Rs. 4900-10680+ Rs. 1650/- Grade Pay.

By order, Sd/- Secretary (AH).

TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

Shimla-2, the 11th October, 2010

No. Tpt-C(17)-2/2009.—In continuation of this department Notification of even No. dated 16-01-2010 and 12-03-2010, the Governor of Himachal Pradesh is pleased to appoint/nominate Shri Vinod Kumar C/o MIT CAMPUS, VPO Bani, Tehsil Barsar District Hamirpur as Non-Official Member to the Advisory Council of HRTC in place of Sh. Ashok Thakur, Contractor, Hamirpur who shall cease to be the member of said council with immediate effect in the public interest.

By order, Sd/- Principal Secretary (Transport).

________

HIMACHAL PRADESH ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION SHIMLA

NOTIFICATION

Shimla the 8th October, 2010

No. HPERC/ 401.—In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 181 and Clauses (za) and (zb) of sub-section (2) of section 181, read with sections 57, 58, 59 and clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 86, of the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003) and all other powers enabling it in this behalf, and after previous publication, the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission hereby makes the following regulations:-

REGULATIONS

CHAPTER –I - PRELIMINARY

1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) These regulations shall be called the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Distribution Performance Standards) Regulations, 2010.

(2) These regulations shall be applicable to all licensees engaged in the distribution of electricity in the State of Himachal Pradesh and all the distribution system users including electricity consumers.

(3) These regulations shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Rajpatra, Himachal Pradesh.

2. Definitions.—In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(1) "Act" means the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003);

(2) "area of supply" means the area within which a distribution licensee is authorised by his licence to supply electricity;

(3) "call centre" means the office set up with adequate technology and systems to register complaints round the clock;

(4) "Commission" means the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission;

(5) "complaint centre" means the front end office set up with adequate technology and systems to register complaints;

(6) "consumer" means any person who is supplied with electricity for his own use by a licensee or by the Government or by any other person engaged in the business of supplying electricity to the public under the Act or any other law for the time being in force and includes bulk supply consumer, any person whose premises are for the time being connected for the purpose of receiving electricity with the works of a licensee, the Government or such other person, as the case may be and shall also include-

(a) the distribution system users; (b) the consumer whose installation has been temporarily disconnected; (c) prospective consumer i.e. any person who has applied for an electricity connection and whose supply has not commenced; and

(d) in case of death of a consumer, his legal heirs or representatives;

(7) "control centre" means a centre established at the Headquarters of the licensee for compilation, evaluating, ranking and analyzing the performance of 'responsibility centres';

(8) "distribution system" means the system of wires and associated facilities between the delivery points on the transmission lines or the generating station connection and the point of connection to the installation of the consumers and shall also include electric line, sub-station and electrical plant that are primarily maintained for the purpose of distributing electricity in the area of supply of such licensee notwithstanding that such line, sub-station or electrical plant are high pressure cables or overhead lines or associated with such high pressure cables or overhead lines; or used incidentally for the purposes of transmitting electricity for others;

(9) " Electricity Supply Code" means the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Supply Code specified by the Commission under section 50 of the Act;

(10) "Fuse Off" means fuse blown off because of overloading or ageing;

(11) "licensee", means a distribution licensee authorised to operate and maintain a distribution system for supplying electricity to the consumers in the area of supply and includes a person deemed to be a distribution licensee under section 14 of the Act;

(12) "remote areas" means areas which are remote, difficult and hard areas as declared by the State Government from time to time and it also includes tribal areas which by order are declared to be Scheduled Areas under Part –C of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India;

(13) "rural areas " means the areas which are not the urban areas and the remote areas;

(14) "responsibility centre" means a Operation Circle Unit of the licensee headed by an officer not below the rank of the Superintending Engineer;

(15) "Schedule" means the Schedule to these regulations;

(16) "urban areas" means the areas which are declared as the larger urban areas, the smaller urban areas or the transitional urban areas under the Act concerning the municipalities, but excluding remote areas, and includes areas falling under the Cantonment Authorities;

(17) 'user' means any person having electrical interface with, or using the distribution system of the licensee to whom the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Distribution Code is applicable, and includes any other distribution licensee, transmission licensee, and generating units connected to the distribution system and the persons availing open access in transmission or distribution system;

(18) "working hours" means the working hours between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and (19) other words and expressions used in these regulations, not defined herein, but defined in the Act shall have the same meaning as are assigned to them in the said Act. Expressions used herein but not specifically defined in these regulations or in the Act but defined under any law passed by a competent legislature and applicable to the electricity industry in the State shall have the meaning assigned to them in such law.

3. Objectives.—These standards lay down the guidelines to maintain certain critical distribution system parameters within the permissible limits. These standards shall serve as guidelines for licensees to operate their distribution system for providing an efficient, reliable, co- ordinated and economical system of electricity distribution. The objectives of these performance standards are:-

(a) to ensure that the distribution system performance meets a minimum standard which is essential for the consumers' installation to function properly;

(b) to enable the consumers to design their systems and equipments to suit the electrical environment that they operate in;

(c) to enhance the quality of the distribution system and services to meet acceptable standards in the short term and gradually moving towards improved standards in the long term;

(d) to lay down standards of performance; and

(e) to measure consumer centric initiatives undertaken by the licensee in providing services.

4. Standards of performance.—(1) The standards specified in the column (3) in the Schedule shall be the guaranteed standards of performance, being the minimum standards of service, which a licensee shall achieve, and the standards specified in the column (6) in the Schedule shall be the overall standards of performance, which the licensee shall seek to achieve, in the discharge of its obligations as a licensee.

(2) Notwithstanding any thing to the contrary contained in sub-regulation (1), the reliability indices, as specified under sub-items (a), (b) (c) and (d) of item (4) of the Schedule –I of the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Distribution Licensee's Standards of Performance) Regulations, 2005 shall continue to be in force till 31st March 2011.

(3) Where the Commission considers it expedient, so to do, it may, by order in writing, call upon the licensee to furnish in writing such information as may be necessary for the enforcement of the reliability indices as specified in these regulations.

(4) The licensee shall, frequently, but at an interval of not less than six months, educate the consumers of their rights regarding the standards of performance as specified by the Commission under sub-section (1) of section 57 of the Act, by giving wide publicity amongst its field staff and public in general including local rural and urban bodies through electronic and print media.

CHAPTER – II - COMPENSATION MECHANISM

5. Compensation.—(1)The minimum compensation to be paid by the licensee to the affected person is specified in the Schedule :

Provided that the actual compensation may, after giving to the licensee and claimant a reasonable opportunity of being heard, be determined by the Commission. or the person who has been delegated the powers of the Commission under section 97 of the Act, for violation of the standards and loss/damage suffered consequent to the failure of the licensee to meet the guaranteed standards of performance:

(2) Where the distribution licensee finds that it has failed to meet the standards of performance specified under these regulations, the licensee shall be liable to pay to the affected person, such compensation as provided in the Schedule :

Provided that any person who is affected by the failure of the licensee to meet the standards of performance specified under these regulations and who seeks to claim compensation shall file his claim, on the format as per Annexure A to these regulations, with the authorised officer of the licensee within a maximum period of 45 days from the time such a person is affected by such failure of the licensee to meet the standards of performance:

Provided further that the licensee shall compensate the affected person(s) within a maximum period of ninety (90) days from the date of his claim.

(3) In case the licensee fails to pay the compensation or if the affected person is aggrieved by non-redressal of his grievances, he may make a representation for the redressal of his grievance to the concerned Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum, in accordance with the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Guidelines for Establishment of Forum for Redressal of Grievances of the Consumers) Regulations, 2003 and if the consumer is not satisfied with the redressal of his grievances by the Forum, the consumer may make a representation to the Ombudsman, in accordance with the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Electricity Ombudsman) Regulations, 2004 :

Provided that in case the claim for compensation is upheld by the Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum, the compensation determined by the Commission in the Schedule will be implemented by the Forum or in case of appeal filed against the order of the Forum before him by the Ombudsman and is to be paid by the concerned distribution licensee:

Provided further that such compensation shall be based on the classification of such failure as determined by the Commission under the provisions of section 57 of the Act and the payment of such compensation shall be paid through cheque or adjusted in the consumer's future bills (issued subsequent to the award of compensation) within ninety (90) days of a direction issued by the Forum or by the Ombudsman, as the case may be.

(4) The license shall duly reflect the payment/adjustment of compensation paid out in the quarterly and the consolidated annual report to be submitted by him under regulation 10.

(5) The licensee shall maintain a record of compensation payable under these regulations showing the name, consumer number and address of the affected person, amount of compensation payable and actually paid, mode of adjustment of compensation, reason(s) for non-compliance of the guaranteed standards of performance in each case. The record giving details of compensation paid on account of contravention of the guaranteed standard of performance by the licensee in compliance of any lawful order made by any court or tribunal, other than the Commission or the person authorised by it under section 97 of the Act, constituted under any law for the time being in force, shall also to be maintained.

CHAPTER – III - COMPLAINT HANDLING MECHANISM

6. Establishment of Complaint and Call Centres.—(1) The licensee shall set up complaint centres at the sub-division offices or distribution units, designated by whatever name, where the consumer can lodge complaints.

(2) In addition to the complaint centres set up under sub-regulation (1), the licensee shall also establish centralised call centre for registration of consumer complaints of its consumers and such call centre shall be accessible to its consumers round the clock during all days of the week.

(3) Every licensee shall employ or engage sufficient number of officers or employees at its complaint/call centre and earmark or allot or establish a basic telephone or cellular mobile telephone number having sufficient lines or connections to be called as the "toll free number" or "consumer care number" or "help line number", as the case may be, at its call centre. No call charges or short message service charges shall be levied upon, or be payable by its consumers for calls made or, short message service sent to the "toll free number" or "consumer care number" or "help line number", as the case may be.

(4) Every licensee shall, immediately upon setting up a complaint centre under sub- regulation (1) or the establishment of its call centre under sub-regulation (2), inform consumers through a public notice in newspapers in circulation in the area of supply and should also ensure proper circulation of information to the consumers in case of any changes in the contact numbers takes place and shall also display information at the sub-division offices or distribution units, designated by whatever name.

(5) The licensee should ensure availability of electronic data base to record complaints as per the procedure mentioned in the regulation 8 for the call centre.

7. Manual of Practice for Handling Consumer Complaints.—(1) Every licensee shall, with prior approval of the Commission, prepare and publish "Manual of Practice for Handling Consumer Complaints" containing following information within three months from the date of commencement of these regulations:-

(a) channels of complaint registration – details of personnel, offices, call centre(s);

(b) process of handling complaints;

(c) duties and obligations of the licensee - guaranteed standards of performance and minimum compensation details;

(d) any other information which may be affecting the consumers.

(2) The Manual shall be prepared in English and Hindi languages.

(3) The Manual shall be available for reference of consumers at every office of the licensee and downloadable from its website.

(4) A copy of the Manual certified by the licensee as "true copy" thereof shall be filed with the Commission within three months from the date of commencement of these regulations.

8. Procedure of Handling Complaints.—(1) The licensee shall devise its own process at its call centre(s)/complaint centre(s) or any other consumer interface channel to handle complaints from the consumers and the said process shall include provisions for -

(a) registration of such complaint by allotting a unique identification number to be called the complaint number;

(b) communication, at the time of lodging the complaint, complaint number, date/ time of registration of the complaint;

(c ) recording the details in respect of such complaint;

(d) intimation of contact details of the next higher authority (including his name, telephone number and address) to the consumer in case the consumer is not satisfied with the redressal of his complaint or when requested by him; and

(e) maintenance of records to every complaint in order to give fair treatment to all consumers and to avoid any dispute regarding violation of standards as specified in the Schedule

9. Implementation arrangements.—(1) Each Operation Circle Unit of the licensee shall be treated as a responsibility centre for overall performance of standards specified under these regulations. The officer heading the responsibility centre shall have total accountability and associated responsibility and authority for managing the actions and performance of the responsibility centre.

(2) The operational head of the licensee shall have overall responsibility for implementation of standards of performance and he shall, to bring in the sense of ownership and competition, set the performance parameters as well as benchmarks for improvement for each responsibility centre. The operational head of the licensee shall establish one control centre at the head office under an officer not below the rank of the Superintending Engineer for compilation, evaluation, ranking and analyzing the performance of responsibility centres.

(3) Immediately after the commencement of these regulations, and under intimation to the Commission, but not later than 30 days, the control centre shall develop uniform formats for data collection, compilation and evaluation of performance of the responsibility centres. The control centre shall prepare and circulate the procedures for compilation and computation of various standards and performance indicators (reliability indices and efficiency parameters) along with uniform definitions and explanations of terms used for unambiguous interpretation by all the responsibility centeres.

(4) The control centre shall monitor, evaluate, rank the circles and advise the responsibility centres for corrective measures. A quarterly report on progressive monthly improvements made by the responsibility centre shall be prepared by the control centre.

Explanation.—For the purpose of this regulation the expression "Operational head" shall mean and include the officer heading the distribution Wing of the licensee.

CHAPTER- IV - SUBMISSION OF REPORTS

10. Information on standards of performance.—(1) The licensee shall furnish in a report, submitted quarterly to the Commission and the Ombudsman and a consolidated annual report for each financial year to the Commission, the following information (separately for guaranteed and overall standards of performance) as to the standards of performance:-

(a) the levels of performance achieved by the licensee with reference to those specified in the Schedule;

(b) the number of cases in which compensation was awarded and the aggregate amount of the compensation paid by the licensee as determined by the Commission or the person authorised by the Commission under section 97 of the Act or awarded by any other court or tribunal, constituted under any law for the time being in force, along with the reasons for non-compliance of the guaranteed standards of performance;

(c) the number of claims preferred by the consumers against the licensee for failure to meet the guaranteed standards of performance and the action taken by the licensee including the reasons as to the delay in payment or non-payment of compensation for such claims.

(2) The Commission shall, at least once in every year, arrange for the publication, in such form and manner as it considers appropriate, of such information furnished by the licensees under these regulations.

(3) In the consolidated annual report, the licensee shall report on the measures taken by the licensee to improve performance areas, assessment of the targets to be imposed for the ensuing year, indicating performance of each circle and ranking of circles with respect to each performance indicator mentioned under sub-regulation (3) of regulation 9 and in the Schedule.

(4) The Ombudsman shall prepare a report on half yearly basis reflecting the opinion of the Ombudsman on the licensee's compliance of the standards of performance during the preceding six months.

(5) The report under sub-regulation (4) shall be forwarded to the Commission and the State Government within 45 days after the end of the relevant period of six months.

11. Compliance Auditing.—(1) In order to ensure proper and due enforcement of the standards of performance, the Commission shall monitor the compliance thereof and may, on being satisfied that the licensee has failed to maintain and discharge its obligations in relation to the standards of performance under these regulations or has failed to furnish information in time or has furnished inadequate or incorrect information under sub-regulation (1) of regulation 10, by order in writing, direct its Secretary or officers, not below the rank of a Gazetted Officer, or the consultant or any other person specified in the order or an independent agency hired for the purpose of auditing as per the provisions of regulation 12, to investigate and report to the Commission.

(2) If the report under sub-regulation (1), or information obtained under regulation 10 or any part thereof, is proposed to be relied upon by the Commission in forming its opinion and satisfaction, the licensee shall be given a reasonable opportunity for filing objections and making submissions on the report or the information as the case may be.

(3) The Commission may direct that the expenditure incurred in conducting the investigations mentioned in sub-regulation (1) shall be borne by the licensee.

(4) The report under this regulation shall address the following specific matters:-

(a) adherence to procedures and formats as per regulations;

(b) assessing staff engaged in call centres/complaint handling centres/customer care centres for their understanding of complaint handling procedures, quality parameters, and training adequacy for their task;

(c) method of data collection and management procedures; and

(d) review of relevant records (as per appropriate sampling procedures) for reliability and accuracy across quality parameters.

(5) The following procedure shall be adopted for engaging agency(ies):-

(a) audit scope and the methodology for carrying out the audit to be set by the Commission;

(b) the Commission will identify and publish panel of approved agency(ies);

(c) the licensee shall nominate an agency from the notified panel of agencies;

(d) the licensee shall not engage an agency consecutively for more than two years or an agency which is currently their statutory auditor or internal auditor;

(e) the audit shall be conducted under an agreement between the nominated agency and the licensee; and

(f) remuneration of the audit agency will be paid by the licensee.

12. Auditing Methodology.—(1) The information obtained, under sub-regulation (1) of regulation 11, vis-à-vis information supplied by the licensee under regulation 10, shall be graded in two parts - reliability and accuracy of the data as under:-

*subject to achievement of overall standard of performance for respective parameter Only if reliability of data is established (at least Grade A), further analysis will be carried out for claims of accuracy of data for each parameter (excluding those where the overall standards of performance has not been achieved) on circle wise basis and subsequently the amount of total compensation so paid out in respect of each parameter on circle basis shall be considered as a pass through in ARR as stipulated above.

(2) The provisions contained in sub-regulation (1) shall be effective from 1st April 2011.

(3) Where the commission considers it expedient, so to do, it may, by order in writing, call upon the licensee to furnish in writing such information as may be necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of sub-regulation (1) of this regulation.

(4) Till 1st April, 2011 when the provisions under sub-regulation(1) become effective, the compensation paid, by the licensee under regulation 5, for the respective parameters computed circlewise, may be allowed to be recovered, partly or fully, in the revenue requirement of licensee, keeping in view the extent to which the licensee is able to achieve the overall standards of performance, as measured through auditing results or investigation carried out under these regulation:

Provided that the compensation paid by the licensee, which is attributed to negligence, inefficiency and for not exercising reasonable care and diligence by its employees would not be allowed as pass-through in the ARR of the licensee.

13. Use of Information.—The Commission shall have the right to use the information received under regulation 10, 11 or 12 as it deems fit and for publishing it or placing it on the Commission's website and/ or directing the licensee to display the information on the licensee's website and also for initiating action under section 19, section 23 and other enabling provisions of the Act.

14. Exclusions of events.—(1) The guaranteed standards of performance specified in these regulations shall remain suspended during force majeure conditions such as war, mutiny, civil commotion, riot, flood, forest inferno, massive landslides, cyclone, lightning, heavy snowfall, earthquake or other force and strike, lockout, fire affecting the licensee's installations and activities. (2) The Commission, or the person to whom powers are delegated by the Commission under section 97 of the Act, may, by a general or special order, and after hearing the licensee and affected5464 राजपत्र, हिमाचल प्रदेश, 12 अक्तूबर, 2010/20 आश्विन, 1932 consumer or the such representatives of the affected consumer group as the Commission, or the person to whom powers are delegated by the Commission under section 97 of the Act, considers it to be appropriate, release the licensee from 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 that the licensee had otherwise duly made efforts to fulfill his obligations.

15. Issue of orders and directions.—(1) Subject to the provisions of the Act and these regulations, the Commission may, from time to time, issue orders and directions in regard to the implementation of these regulations and procedure to be followed on various matters.

(2) Where the licensee fails to comply with any order or direction issued under these regulations, he shall be liable for appropriate action against him under sections 142 and 146 read with section 149 of the Act.

16. Power to remove difficulties.—If any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of the provisions of these regulations, the Commission may, either suo motu or on an application made to it, by general or special order, do or undertake or direct the licensee to do or undertake things, which in the opinion of the Commission are necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing the difficulty.

17. Power to amend Schedule.—The Commission, may, at any time, by an order, published in the Official Gazette add, vary, alter, modify or amend any of the provisions of the Schedule to these regulations.

18. Repeal and savings.—(1) Save as otherwise provided in sub-regulation (2) of regulation 4 and in other provisions of these regulations, the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Licensees' Standards of Performance) Regulations, 2005 are hereby repealed.

(2) Anything done or any action taken or purported to have been done or taken, including any order, direction made or notice issued under the repealed regulations, prior to the commencement of these regulations shall, in so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of these regulations, be deemed to have been done or taken or issued under the corresponding provisions of these regulations.

(3) As far as the licensee is concerned, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the HPERC (Guidelines for Establishment of Forum for Redressal of Grievances of the Consumer) Regulations, 2003 framed by the Commission under section 181 of the Electricity Act, 2003, these regulations shall have overriding effect.

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

By the Order of the Commission Secretary. Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission.

नियन्त्रक, मुद्रण तथा लेखन सामग्री, हिमाचल प्रदेश, शिमला-5 द्वारा मुद्रित तथा प्रकाशित