In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, - 1 [(1) “accounting statements” shall mean for each financial year, the balance sheet, the profit and loss statement, the cash flow statement and the report of the statutory auditors together with notes thereto:]
(1-a) “Act” means the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003);
(2) “additional capitalisation” means the capital expenditure incurred or projected to be incurred, after the date of commercial operation of the project and admitted by the Commission after prudence check, subject to the provisions of regulation;
2 [(2-a) “aggregate revenue requirement” or “ARR” means the costs pertaining to hydro generating stations which are permitted, in accordance with these regulations, to be recovered from the tariffs and charges determined by the Commission.]
(3) “Appendix” means the appendix to these regulations;
1 Existing clause (1) shall be renumbered (1-a) and insert clause (1) vide Not. No. HPERC-F(1)- 2/2018 dated 22 nd November, 2018 published in the R.H.P. 27 th November, 2018 at p. 6249-6256.
2 Ins. vide Not. No. HPERC/F (5)(3)(1) (Gen) dated 1 st November, 2013 published in the R H.P. dated 4 th November,2013 at p. 4599-460.
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(4) “applicant” means a generating company who has made an application for determination of tariff or an application for 1[mid-term performance review] in accordance with the Act and under these regulations and includes a generating company whose tariff is the subject of a review by the Commission either suomotu or on a petition filed by any interested or affected person or as part of 2[mid-term performance review;]
(5) “auxiliary energy consumption” or “AUX” in relation to a period means the quantum of energy consumed by auxiliary equipment of the generating station, and transformer losses within the generating station, expressed as a percentage of the sum of gross energy generated at the generator terminals of all the units of the generating station;
(6) “base year” means the financial year immediately preceding the first year of the control period;
(7) “beneficiary” in relation to a generating station means the person purchasing electricity generated at such a generating station whose tariff is determined under these regulations;
(8) “ capital cost” means the capital cost as defined in regulation;
(9) “Central Commission” means the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission as referred to in sub- section (1) of section 76 of the Act;
2 [(10) “change in law” shall mean the occurrence of any of the following events:
(i) enactment, bringing into effect or promulgation of any new Indian law, or
(ii) adoption, amendment, modification, repeal or re-enactment of any existing Indian law, or
(iii) change in interpretation or application of any Indian law by a competent Court, Tribunal or Indian Governmental Instrumentality, which is the final authority under law for such interpretation or application, or
(iv) change by any competent statutory authority in any condition or covenant of any consent or clearances or approval or licence available or obtained for the project, or
(v) coming into force or change in any bilateral or multilateral agreement/ treaty between the Government of India and any other Sovereign Government having implication for the Generating Station regulated under these regulations; ] 1 Subs. for “annual perform review” vide Not. No. HPERC/F(5)(3)(1)(Gen) dated 1 st Nov., 2013, published in the R H.P. dated 4 th November, 2013 at p. 4599-4606.
2 Subs. vide Not. No. HPERC-F(1)-2/2018 dated 22 nd November, 2018 published in the R.H.P. 27 th November, 2018 at p. 6249-6256 and before its substitution it read as under:- “10. “change in law” means occurrence of any of the following events:-
(a) the enactment, bringing into effect, adoption, promulgation, amendment, modification or repeal of any law, or
(b) change in interpretation of any law by a competent court, Tribunal or Indian Governmental Instrumentality which is the final authority under law for such interpretation, or
(c) change by any competent statutory authority, in any consent, approval or licence available or obtained for the project;” 4 Compendium of HPERC Regulations, March 2021
(11) “Commission” means the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission as referred to in sub- section (1) of section 82 of the Act;
(12) “Conduct of Business Regulations” means the Conduct of Business Regulations specified by the Commission under sub-section (1) of section 92 of Act;
(13) “control period” means a multi-year period fixed, by the Commission, from time to time, for which the principles of determination of revenue requirement and tariff will be laid down;
(14) “cut-off date” means 31 st March of the year closing after two years of the year of commercial operation of the project, and in case the project is declared under commercial operation in the last quarter of a year, the cut-off date shall be 31 st March of the year closing after three years of the year of commercial operation;
(15) “date of commercial operation” or “COD” means in relation to a unit of hydro generating station, the date declared by the generating company from 0000 hour of which, after notice to the beneficiaries, scheduling process in accordance with the Indian Electricity Grid Code and/or the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Grid Code is fully implemented, and in relation to the generating station as a whole, the date declared by the generating company after demonstrating peaking capability corresponding to installed capacity of the generating station through a successful trial run, after notice to the beneficiaries.
Note-
1. In case the hydro generating station, with pondage or storage, is not able to demonstrate peaking capability corresponding to the installed capacity for the reasons of insufficient reservoir or pond level, the date of commercial operation of the last unit of the generating station shall be considered as the date of commercial operation of the generating station as a whole, provided that it will be mandatory for such hydro generating station to demonstrate peaking capability equivalent to the installed capacity of the generating unit or the generating station as and when such reservoir /pond level is achieved.
2. In case of purely run-of-river hydro generating station if the unit or the generating station is declared under commercial operation during lean inflows period when the water is not sufficient for such demonstration, it shall be mandatory for such hydro generating station or unit to demonstrate peaking capability equivalent to the installed capacity as and when sufficient inflow is available.
(16) “day” means the 24 hour period starting at 0000 hour;
(17) “declared capacity” or “DC' in relation to a generating station means, the capability to deliver ex-bus electricity in MW declared by such generating station in relation to any time-block of the day or whole of the day, duly taking into account the availability of water, and subject to further qualification in the relevant regulation;
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(18) “design energy” means the quantum of energy which could be generated in a 90% dependable year with 95% installed capacity of the hydro generating station;
(19) “existing station” means a hydro generating station declared under commercial operation from a date prior to 1 [first year of the control period;]
(20) “existing project” means a project declared under commercial operation from a date prior to 1 [first year of the control period;]
(21) “financial year” means a period commencing on 1 st April of a calendar year and ending on 31 st March of the subsequent calendar year;
2 [(21-a) “force majeure event” shall mean, with respect to any party, any event or circumstance or combination of events or circumstances including those stated below, which is not within the reasonable control of, and is not due to an act of omission or commission of that party and which, by the exercise of reasonable care and diligence, could not have been avoided, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, would include the following events:
(i) acts of God including lightning, drought, fire and explosion, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, flood, cyclone, typhoon, tornado, geological surprises, or exceptionally adverse weather conditions, or
(ii) any act of war, invasion, armed conflict or act of foreign enemy, lockade, embargo, revolution, riot, insurrection, terrorist or military action, or
(iii) industry-wide strikes and labour disturbances having a wide impact;]
(22) “infirm power” means electricity generated prior to commercial operation of the unit of a hydro generating station;
(23) “installed capacity” or “IC” means the summation of the name plate capacities of all the units of the generating station or the capacity of the generating station (reckoned at the generator terminals) as approved by the Commission from time to time;
3 [(23-a)“MCLR” shall mean One Year Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate;]
4 [(23-b) “mid-term performance review” or “MPR” means the review of performance of the generator undertaken by the Commission for the year after the middle year of the control period and this includes the True Up of the previous control period and True Up of previous years of the control period;]
1 Subs. for “01.04.2011” vide Not. No. HPERC/F (5)(3)(1)(Gen) dated 1 st November, 2013 published in the R..H.P dated 4 th November, 2013 at p. 4599-4606.
2 Ins. clause (21-a) vide Not. No. HPERC-F(1)-2/2018 dated 22 nd November, 2018 published in the R.H.P. 27 th November, 2018 at p. 6249-6255.
3 Ins. clause (23-a) vide Not. No. HPERC-F(1)-2/2018 dated 22 nd November, 2018 published in the R.H.P. 27 th November, 2018 at p. 6249-6255.
4 Ins. vide Not. No. HPERC/F (5)(3)(1) (Gen.) dated 1 st Nov., 2013 published in the R H.P. dated 4 th November, 2013 at p. 4599-4606.
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(24) “new station” means a hydro generating station declared under commercial operation on or after 1 [1 st April of the first year of control period;]
2 [(25) “Normative Annual Plant Availability Factor” or “NAPAF” in relation to a generating station means the availability factor as specified in the regulation on ‘Operational Norms’;]
(26) “original project cost” means the capital expenditure incurred by the generating company within the original scope of the project up to the cutoff date as admitted by the Commission;
(27) “Plant Availability Factor (PAF)” in relation to a generating station for any period means the average of the daily declared capacities (DCs) for all the days during that period expressed as a percentage of the installed capacity in MW reduced by the normative auxiliary energy consumption;
(28) “project” means a hydro generating station and includes the complete hydro power generating facility covering all components such as dam, intake, water conductor system, power generating station and generating units of the scheme as apportioned to power generation;
3 [(28-a)“prudence check” shall mean scrutiny of the reasonableness of expenditure incurred or proposed to be incurred, financing plan, use of efficient technology, cost and time over-run and such other factors as may be considered appropriate by the Commission for determination of tariff;]
(29) “run-of-river power station” means a hydro electric power generating station which does not have upstream pondage;
(30) “run-of-river power station with pondage” means a hydro electric power generating station with sufficient pondage for meeting the diurnal variation in power demand;
(31) “scheduled energy” means the quantum of energy scheduled by the State Load Despatch Centre to be injected into the grid by a generating station over a day;
(32) “scheduled generation” or “SG” at any time or for any period or timeblock means schedule of generation in MW or MWh ex-bus, given by the concerned Load Despatch Centre;
(33) “storage type power station” means a hydro electric power generating station associated with large storage capacity to enable variation of generation of power according to demand;
1 Subs. for “01.04.2011”, vide Not. No. HPERC/F(5)(3)(1)(Gen.) published in the R H.P. dated 4 th November, 2013 at p. 4599-4606.
2 Subs. vide Not. No. HPERC/F (5)(3)(1) (Gen.) dated 1 st Nov., 2013 published in the R H.P.
dated 4 th November,2013 at p. no. 4599-4606. Before substitution Clause 25 read as under:- “(25) Normative Annual Plant Availability Factor” or “NAPAF” in relation to a generating station means the availability factor specified in clause (a) of sub-regulation 0 of regulation 0 for hydro generating station;” 3 Ins. clause (28-a) vide Not. No. HPERC-F(1)-2/2018 dated 22 nd November, 2018 published in the R.H.P. 27 th November, 2018 at p. 6249-6255.
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(34) “State” means the State of Himachal Pradesh;
(35) “unit” in relation to a hydro generating station means turbine-generator and its auxiliaries;
(36) “useful life” in relation to a unit of a hydro generating station shall be 40 years from the COD;
(37) “year” means a financial year; and the words and expressions occurring in these regulations and not defined herein but defined in the Act or Grid Code or State Grid Code shall bear the same meanings as respectively assigned to them in the Act or Grid Code or State Grid Code and the words and expressions used herein but not specifically defined herein or in the Act or Grid Code or State Grid Code shall have the meanings generally assigned to them in the electricity industry;
1[(38) the words and expressions occurring in these regulations and not defined herein but defined in the Act or Grid Code or State Grid Code shall bear the same meanings as respectively assigned to them in the Act or Grid Code or State Grid Code and the words and expressions used herein but not specifically defined herein or in the Act or Grid Code or State Grid Code shall have the meanings generally assigned to them in the electricity industry.]
PART-II GUIDING PRINCIPLES