- (1.) The appellant is aggrieved by the order dated 19.5.2004 passed by learned single Judge in W.P.(C) No. 2682 of 2004. The said writ petition has been dismissed by observing that the grievance made by the petitioner before the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum, Jharkhand State Electricity Board, Ranchi, was heard by the said forum on the facts and the grounds taken by the petitioner were fully discussed and reasoned order has been passed and the interference with the said order was not warranted.
(2.) We have heard learned counsel for the parties and considered the facts and materials on record. We also perused the order passed by the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum. The points raised before the Forum was: Whether Board can raise bill on per H.P. basis when the Tariff provides for raising bills as per B.H.P. basis and whether the Board can levy fuel surcharge on unconsumed units.
(3.) The Forum on consideration of the facts and material on record observed as follows : (i) Apparently. B.H.P. and H.P. appears to be different from each other but for all practical purposes in so far as to indicate the rated capacity of a machine they are one and the same (ii) H.P., mainly known as Horse Power stands for mechanical power or rate of doing work and are used to indicate the capacity of a machine for which it has been designed. This word was introduced by James Watt, the first manufacturer of the Internal Combustion Engine and rated the capacity of his engine in H.P. On the other hand B.H.P., which could be considered to be either, abbreviated form of BRITISH HORSE POWER or BRAKE HORSE POWER. (iii) British Horse Power, which is also equal to 33000 ft. lb. per hour work done by a machine, which is equivalent to 746 watt and some times also call the Electrical Horse Power (EHP). It will thus be evident that if BHP is considered to be the abbreviated form of British Horse Power, it is nothing but the rate of doing work of an electrical machine and is said to be the capacity of the machine. Taking into consideration the BHP as the abbreviated form of Brake Horse power it is to be clarified that the Brak Horse Power is the net power available for driving external plant and cannot be considered to be the net working capacity of a particular machine. So far as availability of power for driving the external plant, it has to be delivered by a mechanical machine or an electrical machine whose capacity is designed by the manufacturer and remains constant under specified conditions. Such power is made available to drive the external plant through a prime mover from a mechanical/electrical machine (an electric motor in case of electrical machine) having requisite capacity to generate the required power and driver the same to the prime mover taking into consideration the losses that are incurred between the driver shaft and the driven shaft. The power developed at the driver shaft is the gross power developed up to the capacity of the driver to generator power for work done and is also called the INDICATED HORSE POWER (HP). The difference between the IHP and the BHP is the loss (mechanical/electrical) incurred between the driver and the driven shaft. Indicated Horse Power strictly applies to the Steam and internal Combustion Engine in which the power can be determined by an indicator and is different from the Electric Motors. In case of the Electric Motors the indicators are Ammeter and Voltmeter connected in and across the line and the power input can be recorded directly which is given by the formulae VI/746 per Horse Power (V-Voltage. I-Ampere/Current). Different manufacturers of the electric motors are using different units to indicate the rated capacity of the motors viz. HP, BHP, Watt/KW but all are one and represent the same as shown above and are constant under specified operating conditions. (v) Brake Horse Power is net effective Mechanical Horse Power available at the pulley of a motor Le. actual horse power available after all losses in the motor itself have been deducted. (vi) Further, as pointed out above, the Brake Horse Power is the power exerted against the brake and is normally such brakes are applied to any machine, in the instant case in an electric motor to check the efficiency of the motor. Maximum brake is applied to the motor mechanically or electrically to ensure the maximum out put delivered by the motor and the ratio of the out-put to input is the efficiency of the motor Le. the ratio of the Brake Horse Power to the input is the efficiency of the motor at a given load. In the circumstances although the out put of the motor will vary with the load, the rated capacity of the motor remains unchanged and the consumer while applying for requirement of power permission to avail power to the rated capacity of the motor they install in their premises irrespective of the fact how much of load they utilise out of the installed motor, which as mentioned above, will vary from load to load which cannot be measured in intervals and for all the days of a month. It is thus evident from the facts that the abbreviated form of BHP in the instant case stands for British Horse Power which is form of unit to indicate the rated capacity of the electric motor and BHP is equal to 746 watt and being used by different motor manufacturers. Similarly other manufacturers, to indicate the capacity of a particular electric motor used the H.P. and mathematically HP is equal to 746 watt which same as BHP. Therefore, we are of the view that whether the Board on PER HP basis or PER BHP basis raises the bill, has no financial burden on the consumer except for the objection raised by the consumer that the bill should be raised on per BHP basis while Board is computing the fixed charge as well as minimum guarantee charge on per HP basis. The only modification in the bill, while computing the fixed charge and the minimum guarantee charge, the word BHP may be taken in use to avoid confusion amongst the consumer.;