Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 20101
| [Act 28 of 2010, Repealed by Act 23 of 2016*] | [24th August, 2010] |
An Act to amend the Energy Conservation Act, 2001
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-first Year of the Republic of India as follows-
1 Received the assent of the President on August 24, 2010 and published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 1, dated 25th August, 2010, pp. 1-5, No. 37
* Ed.: Act 28 of 2010 repealed by Act 23 of 2016, S. 2 & Sch. I. See also S. 4 of the Repealing and Amending Act, 2016:
"4. Savings.- The repeal by this Act of any enactment shall not affect any other enactment in which the repealed enactment has been applied, incorporated or referred to;
and this Act shall not affect the validity, invalidity, effect or consequences of anything already done or suffered, or any right, title, obligation or liability already acquired, accrued or incurred, or any remedy or proceeding in respect thereof, or any release or discharge of or from any debt, penalty, obligation, liability, claim or demand, or any indemnity already granted, or the proof of any past act or thing;
nor shall this Act affect any principle or rule of law, or established jurisdiction, form or course of pleading, practice or procedure, or existing usage, custom, privilege, restriction, exemption, office or appointment, notwithstanding that the same respectively may have been in any manner affirmed or recognised or derived by, in or from any enactment hereby repealed;
nor shall the repeal by this Act of any enactment revive or restore any jurisdiction, office, custom, liability, right, title, privilege, restriction, exemption, usage, practice, procedure or other matter or thing not now existing or in force."
Prefatory Note-Statement of Objects and Reasons.-The Energy Conservation Act, 2001was enacted in March 2002, to provide for efficient use of energy and its conservation and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The said Act provides for statutory measures to establish statutory authority by the name of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Bureau) and confer upon the Central Government, State Government and the Bureau certain powers to enforce the said measures for efficient use of energy and its conservation.
2. The Energy Conservation Act, 2001 (the Act) provides for the legal framework and institutional arrangements for embarking on an energy efficiency drive, which, inter alia, includes to (a) establish the Bureau by merging existing Energy Management Centre to effectively coordinate with designated consumers and agencies for performing such functions and exercise such powers which may be necessary for efficient use of energy and its conservation; (b) confer power upon the Central Government to specify norms for processes and energy consumption standards, etc., to enforce efficient use of energy and its conservation; (c) confer power upon the State Governments for enforcing the provisions of the Act; (d) establish a Fund called the Energy Conservation Fund separately by the Central Government and State Governments; (e) impose penalties in case of contravention of the provisions of the Act; and (f) prescribe the procedure for adjudication of the penalties and appeal to the Supreme Court.
3. The efficient use of energy and its conservation has been engaging the attention of the Central Government for quite some time. As a measure to provide for efficient use of energy and its conservation, the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 was enacted and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the said Act has been taking measures for conservation of energy. The said Act was enacted as an enabling in nature so as to provide for more measures from a future date after infrastructure and institutional mechanism are set in place. Now, the infrastructure and institutional mechanism are in place and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency has started discharging its functions for taking measures for conservation of energy. A need has been felt to make more provisions in the aforesaid Act to undertake effective measures for conservation of energy which, inter alia, include the following, namely-
(i) confer power upon the Bureau of Energy Efficiency to appoint its officers and employees instead of by the Central Government being done at present;
(ii) power to give accreditation to energy auditors as well as energy audit firms who are in the business of energy auditing;
(iii) certification procedure for energy managers and energy auditors under the Act;
(iv) conduct of national examination by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency for capacity building and strengthening of services in the field of energy conservation;
(v) empower the Central Government to issue energy savings certificate to the designated consumers whose energy consumption is less than the prescribed norms and enable the designated consumers whose energy consumption is more than the prescribed norms to purchase the energy savings certificate to comply with the norms;
(vi) levy of additional penalty for failure to comply with the provisions of clause (n) of Section 14 which shall not be less than the price of every metric ton of oil equivalent of energy, prescribed under the Act, that is in excess of the prescribed norms;
(vii) provide for the Appellate Tribunal established under the Electricity Act, 2003, as also the Appellate Tribunal to hear appeals against the orders of the adjudicating officers, or the Central Government or the State Government or any other authority under the provisions of the Act.
4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.
1. Short title.-This Act may be called the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2010.
2. Amendment of Section 2.-In Section 2 of the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 (52 of 2001) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act),-
(i) in clause (a), for the words "an auditor possessing qualifications specified under", the words "an energy auditor accredited in accordance with the provisions of" shall be substituted;
(ii) in clause (b), for the words and figures "established under Section 30", the words and figures "referred to in Section 30" shall be substituted;
(iii) for clause (c), the following clause shall be substituted, namely-
‘(c) "building" means any structure or erection or part of structure or erection after the rules relating to energy conservation building codes have been notified under clause (p) of Section 14 and clause (a) of Section 15 and includes any existing structure or erection or part of structure or erection, which is having a connected load of 100 Kilowatt (kW) or contract demand of 120 Kilo-volt Ampere (kVA) and above and is used or intended to be used for commercial purposes;’;
(iv) after clause (m), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely-
‘(ma) "energy savings certificate" means any energy savings certificate issued to the designated cosumers under sub-section (1) of Section 14-A;
(maa) "equipment or appliance" means any equipment or appliance which consumes, generates, transmits or supplies energy and includes any device that consumes any form of energy and produces a desired work;’.
3. Amendment of Section 9.-In Section 9 of the principal Act, in sub-section (3), for the words "three years", the words "five years" shall be substituted.
4. Amendment of Section 10.-In Section 10 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), for the words "The Central Government", the words "The Bureau" shall be substituted.
5. Amendment of Section 13.-In Section 13 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),-
(i) after clause (a), the following clause shall be inserted, namely-
"(aa) recommend to the Central Government for issuing of the energy savings certificate under Section 14-A;";
(ii) for clause (p), the following clause shall be substituted, namely-
"(p) specify, by regulations, the qualifications, criteria and conditions subject to which a person may be accredited as an energy auditor and the procedure for such accreditation;";
(iii) in clause (r), for the words "energy managers", the words "energy auditors and energy managers" shall be substituted;
(iv) after clause (s), the following clause shall be inserted, namely-
"(sa) conduct examination for capacity building and strengthening of services in the field of energy conservation including certification of energy managers and energy auditors.".
6. Amendment of Section 14.-In Section 14 of the principal Act,-
(i) in clause (c), for the proviso, the following provisos shall be substituted, namely-
"Provided that no notification prohibiting manufacture or sale or purchase or import of equipment or appliance shall be issued within a period of six months from the date of notification issued under clause (a) of this section:
Provided further that the Central Government may, having regard to the market share and the technological development having impact on equipment or appliance, and for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the said period of six months referred to in the first proviso by a further period not exceeding six months;
(ii) in clause (e), for the words "any user or class of users of energy as a designated consumer", the words "any user or class of users of energy in the energy intensive industries and other establishments as specified in the Schedule as a designated consumer" shall be substituted;
(iii) in clause (m), for the words "energy managers", the words "energy auditors and energy managers" shall be substituted;
(iv) in clause (o), for the words "such form and manner", the words "such form, the time within which and the manner" shall be substituted.
7. Insertion of new Sections 14-A and 14-B.-After Section 14 of the principal Act, the following sections shall be inserted, namely-
"14-A. Power of Central Government to issue energy savings certificate.-(1) The Central Government may issue the energy savings certificate to the designated consumer whose energy consumption is less than the prescribed norms and standards in accordance with the procedure as may be prescribed.
(2) The designated consumer whose energy consumption is more than the prescribed norms and standards shall be entitled to purchase the energy savings certificate to comply with the prescribed norms and standards.
14-B. Power of Central Government to specify value of energy.-The Central Government may, in consultation with the Bureau, prescribe the value of per metric ton of oil equivalent of energy consumed for the purposes of this Act.".
8. Amendment of Section 26.-In Section 26 of the principal Act,-
(a) in sub-section (1),-
(i) the words, brackets and letters "or clause (n)" shall be omitted;
(ii) for the words "ten thousand rupees", the words "ten lakh rupees" shall be substituted;
(iii) for the words "one thousand rupees", the words "ten thousand rupees" shall be substituted;
(b) after sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely-
"(1-A) If any person fails to comply with the provisions of clause (n) of Section 14, he shall be liable to a penalty which shall not exceed ten lakh rupees and, in the case of continuing failure, with an additional penalty which shall not be less than the price of every metric ton of oil equivalent of energy, prescribed under this Act, that is in excess of the prescribed norms.".
9. Substitution of new section for Section 30.-For Section 30 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely-
"30. Appellate Tribunal.-The Appellate Tribunal established under Section 110 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003) shall, without prejudice to the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, be the Appellate Tribunal for the purposes of this Act and hear appeals against the orders of the adjudicating officer or the Central Government or the State Government or any other authority under this Act.".
10. Insertion of new Section 31-A.-After Section 31 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely-
"31-A. Procedure and powers of Appellate Tribunal.-The provisions of Sections 120 to 123 (both inclusive) of the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the Appellate Tribunal in the discharge of its functions under this Act as they apply to it in the discharge of its function under the Electricity Act, 2003.".
11. Omission of Sections 32 to 43.-Sections 32 to 43 of the principal Act shall be omitted.
12. Amendment of Section 54.-In Section 54 of the principal Act, the words "Chairperson of the Appellate Tribunal or the Members of the Appellate Tribunal or officers or employees of the Appellate Tribunal or the Members of the State Commission or the" shall be omitted.
13. Amendment of Section 56.-In Section 56 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),-
(i) in clause (j), for the words "energy managers", the words "energy auditors and energy managers" shall be substituted;
(ii) after sub-clause (l), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely-
"(la) prescribing the procedure for issuing the energy savings certificate under sub-section (1) of Section 14-A;
(laa) the value of per metric ton of oil equivalent of energy consumed under Section 14-B;";
(iii) clauses (s), (t) and (u) shall be omitted.
14. Amendment of Section 58.-In Section 58 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),-
(a) for clause (f), the following clause shall be substituted, namely-
"(f) the qualifications, criteria and conditions subject to which a person may be accredited as an energy auditor and the procedure for such accreditation under clause (p) of sub-section (2) of Section 13;";
(b) in clause (h), for the words "energy managers", the words "energy auditors and energy managers" shall be substituted.
15. Amendment of the Schedule.-In the Schedule to the principal Act, in the heading, the words "specified as designated consumers" shall be omitted.
16. Amendment of certain enactment.-The enactment specified in the Schedule to this Act shall be amended in the manner specified therein.
Schedule
THE SCHEDULE
(See Section 16)
Amendment to the Electricity Act, 2003
(36 of 2003)
Amendment of Section 110.-In Section 110, for the words "under this Act", the words "under this Act or any other law for the time being in force" shall be substituted.