BEFORE THE VIDYUT OMBUDSMAN
Present
K.Rajagopala Reddy, Director (Law) and
Vidyut Ombudsman
Dated: 19
-03-2009
Sri. G. Deepak Reddy,
Director,
M/s. Great India
Mining Pvt. Ltd
H.No. 8-2-703/6/A,
Road No. 12, Banjara
Hills,
1. Asst. Engineer /
Operation / APCPDCL/ / Keesara / Secunderabad
2. The Asst.
Divisional Engineer/Operation/ APCPDCL / Sainikpuri / Secunderabad
3.
The Divisional
Engineer/Operation/ APCPDCL / Medchal / Hyd
4.
The Superintending Engineer / Operation
/ APCPDCL / Hyd (west) Circle / Sec’bad
5. The General Manager/ Cusomer Service /
Corp.Office / APCPDCL /
… Respondents
The Appeal dated 30.06.2008
(received on 01.07.2008) filed by the appellant has come up for final hearing
before the Vidyut Ombudsman on 17.03.2009 in the presence of Sri and having stood over for
consideration till this day, the Vidyut Ombudsman passed / issued the
following:
Aggrieved by the order passed by
the Forum for Redressal of Consumer Grievances of APCPDCL (for short the
“Forum”) in C.G. No. 50 / 2007-08 of Hyderabad (West) circle dated 30.05.2008,
the appellant filed an Appeal on the following grounds.
(i) the order passed by the Forum is against the cannons of law and against the evidence;
(ii) the Forum erred in holding that there is no deficiency in supply or service on the part of the respondents;
(iii) the respondents failed to give reply to 108 instances power failures, but only to five such instances;
(iv) the Forum failed to consider that even few seconds of power failure/ poor / flickering in power supply causes jamming of boulders in crushers and clearing, lifting the boulders with crane is not only a time consuming process (about 4 hours for each cease) but also is a costly affair besides damage to the jaw liners resulting in frequent repairs and replacement;
(v) the Forum failed to consider that whenever power failures occur, 50MT boulders have to be removed and it is highly risky process as well as dangerous to the lives of the workers;
(vi) the Forum failed to consider that the failure of power supply is due to deficiency of service of respondents not for force majeure;
(vii) the Forum directed that the respondents shall inform the complainant in writing the reasons for interruptions under acknowledgment. The appellant / complainant gave written complaints for power failure of more than 20 occasions, but the respondents failed to give reasons in writing for the same;
(viii) therefore, it is prayed that the vidyut Ombudsman may be pleased to allow the appeal by setting aside the order dated 30.05.2008, otherwise the appellant / complainant suffers irreparable loss, mental agony and injury and pass such other order or orders as this vidyut ombudsman may deem fit in the circumstances of the case.
2. In terms of Clauses 8(1)(c) and 11 (1) of the “APERC Establishment of Forum and Vidyut Ombudsman for Redressal of Grievances of Consumers Regulation, 2004” (for short “Regulation No.1 of 2004”) the Vidyut Ombudsman is required to promote settlement by mutual agreement between the parties. However, inspite of best efforts made by the Vidyut Ombudsman on 05.11.2008, parties could not arrive at settlement by mutual agreement between them and the respondents were directed to file written submissions / counter.
3. In response, respondent No. 2 filed written submission stating that;
(i) HT service of appellant is connected on 11KV Ankireddypally feeder emanating from 33/11KV Keesara Sub-Station. The said feeder is feeding agriculture loads only and a fourth wire was erected on this line to feed industrial and commercial services;
(ii) As per Government of A.P.Policy, 7 hours 3-phase supply is being extended to agriculture. Rest of the day will have S- phase supply or no supply. 3-phase supply to agriculture services is extended in a continuous single spell for one week and in the succeeding week it is supplied in two spells i.e., 4 hours day time and 3 hours in night time. For this purpose operations will be broken 2 to 4 times to change over S-phase to 3-phase and 3-phase to S-phase every day as per the instructions. This feeder is having 4th wire operation which supplies to industries and major commercial services. But the interruptions are common for all the services because of 3-phase supply change over. At the time of change over, the tripping of feeder breaker is compulsory resulting at least 2 to 4 planned trippings on feeder every day. The appellant knows above facts before releasing of supply. It also gave an under-taking to restrict 3-phase supply to 7 hours in future if 1/3rd arrangements are proposed on this feeder. Alternatively, the appellant agreed to make arrangements for a separate feeder from sub-station for continuous 3-phase supply.
(iii) There are 11 Nos. agriculture distribution transformers on this feeder feeding 127Nos. agriculture services. Due to operation of electrical equipment by un-skilled farmers during fuse-off much disturbance is caused on the feeder.
(iv) Most of the 11KV Ankireddypally feeder is passing through the crusher area and all the crusher services including the appellant are involved in daily blastings of hard rocks in their respective quarries. The boulders are falling on the 11KV line resulting in snapping of conductor and damaging the insulators. These blasting operations are causing more number of breakdowns. The conductor was snapped many times in the premises of the appellant. Many a times crusher owners were informed not to blast the quarries near the 11KV OH line.
(v) Moreover heavy vehicles i.e., lorries and tractors are running around the crushers and these are also damaging the poles and conductor as the vehicle drives are not well trained. For that reason, interruptions are also occurring on the feeder.
(vi) Prior intimation is being given to the consumer regarding interruptions while taking LCs and shut downs on the feeder.
(vii) Appellant may be advised to lay a separate 11KV line from 33/11KV sub-station to avoid the interruptions. Even though approximate cost was given, appellant has not come forward to bear the necessary charges for erection of new line.
(viii) The following measures are taken
(a) all crush owners are informed not to blast the quarry near to the 11KV OH line.
(b) routine and special maintenance is being carried out to avoid breakdowns on the feeder.
(c) notices issued to village sarpanches and farmers not to operate/meddle the electrical equipments/switches.
(d) pole to pole survey was done on 11KV Ankireddypally feeder and rectification work was commenced.
(ix) For the reasons mentioned above, all the interruptions fall under the factors beyond the control of the company of the respondents and as per clause 21 of the GTCS, the distribution company is not liable for claims for loss, damage, etc by the appellant, therefore Vidyut Ombudsman may reject the appeal.
4. The issue that arises for consideration is whether the appellant is