Amendments in the Electricity Act 2003

Amendments in the Electricity Act 2003 by the Electricity (Amendment) Act 2007 (No.26 of 2007).

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The Electricity (Amendment) Act 2007, amending various provisions of the Electricity Act 2003, has been published in the Gazette of India on 29.05.2007, a copy of which is enclosed for ready reference.

2. In terms of Sub-section 2 of Section 1 of the above amendment Act 2007, the Ministry of Power, Govt. of India, has issued a notification dated 12.06.2007, published on 12.06.2007 in the Gazette of India, a copy of which is also enclosed for reference. As per the said notification, all the amendments brought about by the Electricity (Amendment) Act 2007 in the Principal Act (the Electricity Act 2003) have come into force and effect from 15th June, 2007.

3. In the matter of unauthorized use of electricity and the theft of electricity, substantial amendments have been done in Sections 126, 127, 135, 150, 151, 153 and 154 of the Electricity Act 2003. All concerned officers are hereby advised to take note of the above amendments for necessary action. The other amendments are related to other matters of the Electricity Act 2003.

4. The special features of the amendments relating to unauthorized use of electricity and theft of electricity are as under: -

(1) It is mandatory now under Section-126 that final assessment order has to be passed within 30 days from the date of service of provisional assessment order and that the assessment shall be made for the entire period during which such unauthorized use of electricity has taken place and if, the period during which such unauthorized use of electricity has taken place can not be ascertained, such period shall be limited to a period of 12 months immediately preceding the date of inspection. It may, however, be noted that it is also mandatory now that before passing the final order of assessment, a reasonable opportunity of hearing has to be afforded to such person.

(2) It may be noted that the provision earlier in the Act, that in case the person deposits the assessed amount he shall not be subjected to any further liability or any action by any authority whatsoever, has now been deleted.

(3) The assessment shall now be at twice the tariff instead of one and half times provided earlier.

(4) In the explanation under Section 126, two more items have been added in the definition of ‘unauthorized use of electricity’. The unauthorized use of electricity shall now also include.

i. if the supply is used for the purpose other than for which the uses of electricity was authorized, or

ii. for the premises or areas other than those for which the supply of electricity was authorized.

(5) In Section 127, the person going in appeal against the final order of assessment was earlier required to deposit one-third of the assessed amount which has now been amended to the effect that he will be required to deposit half of the assessed amount.

(6) In Section 135 relating to theft of electricity, amendment has been made in Sub-section 1 (a) to include ‘supplier’ also in addition to licensee. This means there can be a supplier other than licensee from whose line the theft can take place and the person indulging in such act shall be covered under the said Section 135. The effect is that if any person indulges in theft of electricity where a ‘franchisee’ is supplying electricity, such theft has now been included in Section 135 of the Electricity Act 2003.

(7) It may be noted that in Sub-section 1 of Section 135, clauses (d) and (e) have been newly added to cover such person(s) who use electricity through a tampered meter or uses electricity for the purpose other than for which the uses of electricity was authorized to bring them in the ambit of theft of energy.

(8) A new ‘proviso’ has been added in Section 135 which provides that in the event of second and subsequent conviction of a person where the load abstracted, consumed or used (or attempts thereof) exceeds 10 KW, such person shall also be debarred from getting any supply of electricity for a period which shall not be less than 3 months but may extend to two years and shall also be debarred from getting supply of electricity for that period from any other source or generating station. As this provision is applicable on second and subsequent ‘conviction’, this punishment will be awarded by the Special Court.

(9) Under the said Section 135, it may be noted that a new Clause (1 A) has also been added which provides for :-

i. immediate disconnection of supply of electricity by the licensee or supplier on detection of theft,

ii. the supply shall be disconnected by only such officer of the licensee or supplier, as authorized for the purpose by the appropriate Commission or any other officer of the licensee or supplier, of the rank higher than the rank so authorized,

iii, such officer of the licensee or supplier has mandatory obligation to lodge a complaint in writing relating to Commission of such offence in Police Station having jurisdiction within 24 hours from the time of such disconnection, and

iv. the licensee or supplier, on deposit of payment of the assessed amount of electricity charges shall, without prejudice to the obligation to lodge the complaint in Police Station, restore the supply of electricity within 48 hours of such deposit of payment.

(10) In Sub-section 2 of Section 135, “any authorized officer “has been substituted by” any officer of the licensee or supplier, as the case may be, authorized”. This means that the State Govt. may authorize any officer of the licensee or supplier for the purposes of Sub-section 2 of Section-135 relating to entry, search and seizure etc.

(11) A new sub-section 3 has been added in Section 150 to the effect that the licence of the Electrical Contractor, Supervisor or Workers may also be cancelled by the Licensing Authority on abatement if a person is either convicted of any offence under Section 135, 136, 137 or 138 for such abatement.

(12) In Section 151 relating to cognizance of offences punishable under the Electricity Act 2003, besides the complaint in writing by the appropriate Government or appropriate Commission or any of their officers authorized by them or Chief Electrical Inspector or Electrical Inspector of Licensee etc., the Court may also take cognizance of such offences upon a report of a Police Officer under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. Further, a proviso has also been made that a Special Court constituted under Section 153 shall be competent to take cognizance of an offence without the accused being committed to it for trial.

(13) After Section 151, new Sections 151 (A) and 151 (B) have been added relating to powers of Police to investigate and it also provides that an offence punishable under Sections 135 to 140 or Section 150 shall be cognizable and non-bailable.

(14) In Section 153, an amendment has been made to the effect that the offences under Sections 135 to 140 and Section 150 shall also be covered under the jurisdiction of Special Courts. Earlier, the offences under Sections 140 & 150 were not covered. Similarly, Section 154 has also been amended like-wise. Further, there is an amendment in Sub-section 5 of Section 154 to the effect that the Special Courts shall determine the civil liability against the consumer. The earlier provision was that the Special Courts had discretion but now it has become mandatory.

5. What has been stated above are only the special features of the amendments relating to unauthorized use of electricity and theft of energy. It is advised that all concerned officers may go through the amendments very carefully and take appropriate necessary action in the matters of unauthorized use of electricity and theft of electricity.

बिजली चोरी _ बिन्दु रूप विवरण

Theft of power ; vigilance & legal aspects
V.R.Shrivastava,
Adll. S.E.Vigilance, M.P.P.K.V.V.Co.,
Jabalpur.(M.P.)
Introduction
Importantance of electricity.
Effects of electric theft in national development.
Home work to find out the suspected connections.
Study of MRI,
Informers,
Study of meter diaries,
Information gathered from electrical contractors & fitters,
Information gathered from call centers,
Night patrolling to find out the highlighted consumers,
Study of pattern of consumption of similar agriculture, rural, urban, industrial consumers,
Inspection of service lines.etc.

Various types of theft
Use of magnets,
Partial theft
Bypassing the meter,
Making meter slow,
Direct theft etc.
Innocent theft (defective meters).

Checking of connection & meter.
Inspection of service line , load
Spot checking of meter by heater load,
Taking load by tong tester, Inspection of meter seals with the help of lance.
Inspection of meter joints by mirror.
How to prepare the Panchnama?
Recording the maximum information provided by consumer,
Recording the consumption pattern,
Details of capacitor , motor ,load etc.,
Taking the signature of the consumer and witnesses.
Other spot activities.
Preparing the spot map,
Ceasing the equipments being used for theft,
Taking the photographs and video shooting,
Taking out the meter for testing if found slow.
Testing of meter at meter testing lab.
Detailed Testing of meter at meter testing lab in presence of the consumer or his representative,
Taking photographs & the video recording of the testing process as witness
Collecting the meter testing report duly signed by consumer.
Provisional bill
Collecting the billing history of the consumer from D.C.
Issuing of the provisional bill according to the MPERC directives and I.E. Act-2003 as per current tariffs.
Assessed units = load*days*hours*factor
Compounding fee as per rule.
Change of purpose & change of premises is treated as theft.
I.E. Act-2003 - Sec 135 theft
I.E. Act-2003 - Sec 126 malpractice




Hearing the consumer and issuing final bill.
Consumer has the right to protest the provisional bill,
The assessing officer will consider consumer’s view as per law & issue the final bill,
If the revised bill is lesser than previous bill then approval is to be taken from controlling authority before issuing the final bill.
Information of payment & Preparation of Parivad Patra.
Collection of information of payment of the bill from D/C.
Preparation of Parivad Patra with all evidences & submission to nodal officer to launch the court case so that we win the case in court of law if payment have not been deposited by consumer in due time.
Feedback
Daily telephonic report should be given to head office.
Monthly Returns, thefts of more than 10 HP, cases of bill amounting more than Rs. 50,000/-.should be reported ,so that they can be high lighted in news papers & can be considered for awards.
High sprit of the flying squad is must.
Unity amongst the team members, good attitude & high sprit of the flying squad is must since the flying squad act against the culprits every member of the team is keenly observed by public even a small negative point can be highlighted against the squad.
Conclusion
Government is taking theft of electricity with great concern. Legal formation of special courts for electricity thefts, Pre paid metering, spot metering, HVDS distribution system, and franchise etc. are few of the measures being adopted . In overall interest innovative actions are required.

बिजली चोरी तरह तरह से

Few METHODS FOUND,OF PILFERING ELECTRICITY amongst big consumers Different Methods of Meter Tampering
& its Effect on Meter Registration
Tampering the body seals affixed to the meter or replacing the original seals with fake seals
It is done with the purpose to manipulate the internal meter mechanism in order to reduce actual registration to the extent that depends on the nature of tampering
TYPES OF METER TAMPERING THAT INVOLVES BODY SEAL TAMPERING
Changing the current coil of meter of the meter i.e replacing it with non std higher sized coils with less number of coil turns
The flux and consequently the driving torque of the disc reduces in proportion to increased coil size and less number of turns, diminishing the meter registration
Shorting the current coils (internally or externally)
Majority of the drawn current is bypassed, through the shunted path and registration goes down considerably

Changing the counter gear of the meter
As the meter disc rotates the correct registration is recorded by a set of gear train, unique for a particular type of meter. When the entire gear assembly of a 3x30/60A meter is replaced with that of a 3x10/20A meter or that of a 3x5/10A meter, registration is lowered by 60% or 80% than actual

Puncturing the pressure coils of the meter
Registration falls by 33.33% when one of pressure coils are punctured, by 66.67% when two such pressure coils are punctured and found totally stopped when all the coils are damaged.


Reversing the incoming and outgoing phase loops of poly phase meter
Registration reduces to 33% when one of the phase loops are reversed, it stops totally when more than one loops are reversed

METHODS OF TAMPERING THAT DO NOT NECESSARILY INVOLVE BODY SEALS TAMPERING
Drilling a tiny hole at the top or side surface of the meter body and counter gears inside meter are rotated with a wire or a prod.
This is done with a purpose to manipulate the display units which may be altered in the described fashion to reduce the actual advance in registration. The consumer thus gets a total control on meter registration
Drilling a tiny hole at the bottom surface of a meter and inserting a stick through this hole that touches the disc
Under this condition the disc gets jammed and fails to rotate, meter registration which is an effect of disc rotation, stops totally.


Drilling a tiny hole at the back of the meter body and puncturing the pressure coils of meter after making access from back
The registration falls by 33%, 67% or stops totally when one, two or all three coils are punctured
Placing a strong magnet on the meter body or in close vicinity of it
The meter registration is reduced or stopped under the influence of this external magnet as it creates a flux that opposes the disc motion. However, prolonged exposure of a magnet may increase the disc rotation
Injecting extraneous signal (D.C Voltage) after disconnecting incoming neutral to meter
The disc rotation is reduced or totally stopped till the time the meter is under the influence of such signal.

Disconnecting the incoming neutral loop of a single phase meter or reversing the incoming phase and neutral loop of a single phase meter
The registration can be changed as desired and the consumer can bypass a major share of his connected load by means of an external earth and simultaneously installing a changeover switch in the wiring circuit.
Breaking the face glass of the meter and manually stopping the disc from rotating
The registration is nil till the time the disc is refrained from being rotated.
Inserting a photographic film through the gap between the face glass and meter body
The film follows a spiral path and jams the disc and prevents it from rotation