(1) No licensee or generating company shall, at any time, without the previous consent in writing of the Commission, acquire by purchase or otherwise the licenseor the undertaking or associate himself with, so far as the business of generation, transmission, distribution or supply of energy is concerned, any other licensee or person generating, transmitting, supplying or intending to generate, transmit or supply electricity.
Provided that before granting or refusing such consent, the Commission shall hear such person or authority as the Commission may consider appropriate.
(2) The licensee shall not, at any time, assign his licence or transfer his undertaking, or any part thereof, by sale, mortgage, lease, exchange or otherwise without the previous consent in writing of the Commission.
(3) The provisions of section 44 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 shall apply except that the persons to whom the section applies shall be required to obtain the sanctions and consents from the Commission, instead of such sanctions and consents to be obtained from the Board as provided under that section.
(4) A holder of a supply or transmission licence may, unless expressly prohibited by the terms of its licence, enter into arrangements for the purchase of electricity from-
(a) the holder of a supply licence which permits the holder of such licence to supply energy to other licensees for distribution by them; and
(b) any person or generating company with the consent of the Commission.
(5) Any agreement relating to any transaction of the nature described in sub-section (1),
(2), (3) or (4) unless made with, or subject to such consent as aforesaid, shall be void.
27. Every licensee shall, unless expressly exempted by the licence, prepare and render to the Commission, on or before the date in each year specified in the licence, an annual statement or statements of accounts of its undertaking and of each separate business unit as specified in the licence made up to such date, in such form and containing such particulars, as may be set out in the licence. It shall be a term of the licence that such statements shall be published in manner prescribed in the rules.
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PART-VII TARIFFS
28.(1) The holder of each licence granted under this Act shall observe methodologies and procedures specified by the Commission from time to time in calculating the expected revenue from charges which it is permitted to recover pursuant to the terms of its licence and in designing tariffs to collect those revenues.
(2) The Commission shall, subject to the provisions of sub-section (3), be entitled to prescribe the terms and conditions for the determination of the licensee’s revenues and tariffs by regulations duly published in the official Gazette and in such other manner as the Commission considers appropriate.
Provided that in doing so, the Commission shall be guided by the following parameters, namely:-
(a) the financial principles and their application provided in the Sixth Schedule to the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 read with sections 57 and 57-A of the said Act;
(b) the factors which would encourage efficiency, economic use of the resources, good performance, optimum investments and other matters which the Commission considers appropriate keeping in view the salient objects and purposes of the provisions of this Act;
(c)the interest of the consumers.
(3)Where the Commission departs from the factors specified in the Sixth Schedule of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 while determining the licensee’s revenues and tariffs, it shall record the reasons therefor in writing.
(4) Any methodology or procedure specified by the Commission under sub-sections (1),
(2) and (3) above, shall be to ensure that the objects and purposes of this Act are duly achieved.
(5) Every licensee shall provide to the Commission at least three months before the ensuing financial year full details of its calculation for that financial year of the expected aggregate revenue from charges which it believes it is permitted to recover pursuant to the terms of its licence and thereafter it shall furnish such further information as the Commission may reasonably require to assess the licensee's calculation. Within ninety days of the date on which the licensee has furnished all the information that the Commission requires, the Commission shall notify the licensee either-
(a) that it accepts the licensee's calculation; or
(b) that it does not consider the licensee's calculation to be in accordance with the methodology or procedure in its licence, and such notice to the licensee shall-
(i) specify fully the reasons why the Commission considers that the licensee's calculation does not comply with the methodology or procedures specified in its licence or is in any way incorrect, and
(ii) propose a modification or an alternative calculation of the expected revenue from charges, which the licensee shall accept.
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(6) Each holder of a supply licence shall publish in the daily newspaper having circulation in the area of supply, and make available to the public on request, the tariff or tariffs for the supply of electricity within its licenced area and such tariff or tariffs shall take effect only after seven days from the date of such publication.
(7) Any tariff implemented under this section -
(a) shall not show undue preference to any consumer of electricity, but may differentiate according to the consumer's load factor or power factor, the consumer's total consumption of energy during any specified period, or the time at which supply is required;
(b) shall be just and reasonable and be such as to promote economic efficiency in the supply and consumption of electricity; and
(c) shall satisfy all other relevant provisions of this Act and the conditions of the relevant licence.
(8) No tariff or part of any tariff required by sub-section (6) may be amended more frequently than once in any financial year except in respect of any changes expressly permitted under the terms of any fuel surcharge formula prescribed. At least three months before the proposed date for implementation of any tariff or an amendment to a tariff the licensee shall provide details of the proposed tariff or amendment to a tariff to the Commission, together with such further information as the Commission may require to determine whether the tariff, or amended tariff, would satisfy the provisions of subsection (7). If the Commission considers that the proposed tariff, or amended tariff, of a licensee does not satisfy any of the provisions of sub-section (7), it shall, within sixty days of receipt of all the information which it required, and after consultation with the Commission Advisory Committee and the licensee, notify the licensee that the proposed tariff, or amended tariff, is unacceptable to the Commission and it shall provide to the licensee an alternative tariff or amended tariff, which shall be implemented by the licensee. The licensee shall not amend any tariff unless the amendment has been approved by the Commission.
(9) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 57A- and 57-B of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 no rating committee shall be constituted after the date of this enactment and the Commission shall secure that licensees comply with the provisions of their licences regarding their charges for the sale of electricity (both wholesale and retail) and for the connection to and use of their assets or systems in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
10) In this section-
(a) "the expected revenue from charges" means the total revenue which a licensee is expected to recover from charges for the level of forecast supply used in the determination under sub-section (5) above in any financial year in respect of goods or services supplied to customers pursuant to a licensed activity; and b) "tariff” means a schedule of standard prices or charges for specified services which are applicable to all such specified services provided to the type or types of customers specified in the tariff.