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 1 Published in R H.P. dated 12th October 2010, at p. 5455-5476.
2 Compendium of HPERC Regulations, March 2020 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 centers’;
(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, Compendium of HPERC Regulations, March 2021 3 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.