Hon’ble Alok Singh, J (Oral)

Present petition is filed assailing the order dated 16.03.2009 passed by Electricity, Ombudsman, Uttarakhand, whereby penalty imposed on the consumer/respondent, herein, for violating the peak hour restriction, was set aside.

2. Brief facts of the present case, inter alia, are that UPCL approached the State Electricity Regulatory Commission with its proposal for regulating the supply of electricity to the consumers during 05.00 p.m. to 10 p.m. from January to March, 2007; Regulatory Commission vide order dated 09.01.2007 was pleased to approve the proposal of the UPCL with effect from 10.01.2007 to 15.03.2007; thereafter, on 19.01.2007, UPCL again approached the Regulatory Commission with the proposal that all the industries in the State may be permitted to use 15% of their sanctioned load daily during the peak hours; Regulatory Commission approved that restriction on 25.01.2007; although as per approval granted by Regulatory Commission, all industries were permitted to use only 15% of their sanctioned load daily during the peak hours; however, consumer respondent, herein, was granted exemption from the peak hours restrictions by CMD of UPCL