The new "Power Supply Business Rules" embody the equality of power supply and electricity relations

Wu Desong, deputy director of the Legal Compliance Department of Hunan Electric Power of State Grid, and Wang Husong, deputy director of the Legal Service Guarantee Center

Interpretation of the new "Power Supply Business Rules":

Recently, the newly revised "Power Supply Business Rules" were announced by the National Development and Reform Commission in Order 14 and will come into effect on June 1, 2024. This revision adds 9 new articles, deletes 6 articles, and modifies 61 articles. It is a comprehensive and systematic revision. The revised "Power Supply Business Rules" embody the equality of power supply and electricity relations.

01 In terms of the relationship between power supply and electricity contracts and the Power Supply Business Rules, the legislative intention of "contractual agreement takes precedence" is reflected

An obvious change in the revision of the "Power supply Business rules" is that the relationship between the power supply contract and the "Power supply Business rules" embodies the legislative intention of "contract agreement first", that is, "there is an agreement to follow the agreement, and there is no agreement to follow the law. The agreement shall not break through the law". For example, the matters originally unilaterally stipulated by the power supply enterprise will be changed to be determined or agreed upon by both parties through consultation. For example, Article 84 will change the power supply enterprise "may, according to the specific situation, determine the way to collect electricity charges from users" to "can negotiate with users to determine the way to collect electricity charges", and change the time limit and mode of payment from "provisions of power supply enterprises" to "agreed by both parties". In Article 97 "responsibility for Electric Power Operation Accidents", Article 98 "responsibility for Voltage quality", Article 99 "responsibility for Frequency quality", Article 100 "liability for late payment of electricity charges", and Article 101 "responsibility for endangering the safety of power supply and disruption of normal power supply and consumption order", the principle of "agreement priority" has been added, which stipulates that "unless otherwise agreed by both parties". In particular, Article 102, which is newly added after the revision, stipulates that "the relevant terms of liability for breach of contract signed between power supply enterprises and users shall not exceed the limits of liability for breach of contract stipulated in these rules, and shall not increase user obligations without authorization." derogate from the rights of users ", but also determine the liability for breach of contract" the agreement shall not exceed the legal "rigid constraint.

The above-mentioned revision of the Power Supply Business Rules reflects the following characteristics of the power supply and electricity relationship:First, it reflects the characteristics of the civil legal attributes of both power supply and power supply. As a type of famous contract in the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, power supply and electricity contracts should abide by the general principles of civil law, including the principle of autonomy of will and consensus. The second is to reflect the characteristics of power supply as a public utility service industry. The party providing services by a public utility is often in a monopoly position. In order to fully protect the rights and interests of the counterparties, it is necessary to provide basic transaction conditions for the negotiation of both parties. The third is to reflect the large number of users. As a public utility service provider, the main body is often a single main body, and the number of people in need of services is large. Detailed negotiation one by one requires a lot of work, and even a deadlock in which negotiation cannot be achieved. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the difficulty of negotiation, avoid negotiation deadlock, and make it easier for users to get power supply services. The fourth is to solve the problem of "de facto power supply and electricity relationship" in reality. That is, if the two parties have not signed a power supply contract, or if a power supply contract has been signed but has expired but has not been renewed,