S.R.O no ------------/Law/2006. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 59 of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Act, 2003 (Act No 13 of 2003), hereby adopts the following regulation:

1. Short title .

This regulation shall be called Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission License Regulation, 2006.

2. Definitions:

Unless the context requires otherwise, the following words shall have the following meanings:

3. Application for license:

3. Application for license:

a. Any person intending for engagement in the business of electricity generation, and the transmission, transportation, marketing, storage, distribution and supply of energy will have to apply to the commission i writing in the following procedure;-.

(1) An application for a License shall be in 9(nine copies) made in five (5) hard copies (one original plus 8 copies) in the prescribed application form to be obtained from the Commission with one (1) soft copy (diskette or CD), and shall be submitted to the Commission.

(2).deposition of the fees as applicable and referred in schedule -A

.(3).Copies of the documents to demonstrate that they have the financial, managerial, and technical capacity to comply with the conditions of the License;

(4). attested copies of the memorandum and articles of association of the applicant;

(5). attested copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation;

(6). attested copy of the corporate authorization (if applicable) allowing the submission of the application;

(7). in the case of an applicant being a subsidiary company of a non-energy related holding company, the documents specified in clauses (1) to (6) of this sub-rule, pertaining to its holding company;

.(8) details of the consents required under applicable laws, from persons other than the Commission, for carrying on the relevant regulated activities;

(9). details of the technical and financial expertise and resources available for carrying on the relevant regulated activities;

(10). details of the emergency response plan which identifies resources and expertise available to handle emergency situations arising out of natural calamities, accidental or criminal acts or omissions, and specifying which such resources are available and which are to be procured;

(11). a list of the names and business addresses of the applicant's senior management, including without limitation, departmental and/or divisional heads;

(12). if the applicant or any of its directors, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, or holds ten percent or more of the voting interest in any other person engaged in the production, transmission, transportation, marketing, storage, distribution, or sale of energy, or in any person engaged in the financing, construction, maintenance or operation of such facilities, a detailed explanation of each such relationship, including the percentage of voting interest owned, held or controlled;

(13). a list of all other applications, petitions or filings filed by the applicant which are pending before the Commission at the time of the filing of this application, and which directly and significantly affect this application, including an explanation of any material effect the grant or denial of those other applications, petitions or filings will have on this application, and of any material effect the grant or denial of this application will have on those other applications, petitions or filings;

(14). details of appropriate market related data, such as -­

(15). In the case of an application for a transmission or transportation license, in

addition to the documents specified in the provisions of regulation (1) to (6) above 1-6 above, the application shall be accompanied by:

(16) In the case of an application for a marketing, distribution or a sale license, in addition to the documents specified in the provisions (1) to (6) of the regulations above, the application shall be accompanied by:­

17. In the case of an application for storage, in addition to the documents specified in the provision (1) to (6) above, the application shall be accompanied by:

4. Application for license for co-generation, captive power and small power generation ;

(1) Cogeneration, captive power generation, and small power generation constitute a special generation licensing category.

(2). if a person intends to obtain license for Cogeneration, captive power generation, and small power generation then he will have to apply in writing to the Commission following the procedure as far as applicable described in the Provision 3 of the Regulation.

(3)Processing of the application, evaluation. approval. dismissal. amendment, revoke or cancellation of Cogeneration, captive power generation, and small power generation cases shall be made following, as far as applicable. the provisions of the Regulation

5. Application for enlistment as a licensee .

- If a person previously held a license, sanction, or similar authority, under the Electricity Act, relevant Presidential Order, Rural Electrification Act, DESA Act, Bangladesh Petroleum Act, they will be required to file a written application to thw Commission for enlistment as a License folowing , as far as applicable, the provisions 3 of the Regulation

6. Application for enlistment as captive power Generation Company

If a person under a license a license, sanction, or similar authority, under the Electricity Act, relevant Presidential Order, Rural Electrification Act, DESA Act, Bangladesh Petroleum Act qualifies to be a captive power generation company an, they will be required to file a written application to the Commission for enlistment as a License following, as far as applicable, the provisions 3 of the Regulation

7. Application for enlistment as a small power generation company

If a person previously held a license, sanction, or similar authority, under the Electricity Act, relevant Presidential Order, Rural Electrification Act, DESA Act, Bangladesh Petroleum Act, they will be required to file a written application to the Commission for enlistment as a License following, as far as applicable, the provisions 3 of the Regulation.

8. Application for enlistment as an Independent Power Producer

If a person previously held a license, sanction, or similar authority, under the Electricity Act, relevant Presidential Order, Rural Electrification Act, DESA Act, Bangladesh Petroleum Act as an Independent Power Producer they will be required to file a written application to the Commission for enlistment as a License following , as far as applicable, the provisions 3 of the Regulation.

9. Procedure for waiver from the requirement of a License.-

( 1) The commission may sanction waiver to an applicant from the requirement of a license. viz;

(2) An application for a Waiver of license shall be made to the Commission subject to the following conditions;-

(a) application to the Commission in the prescribed form to be obtained from the Commission,

(b) payment of an application fee, s mentioned in the schedule- A .

(c) description of the reasons for the prayer of waiver

(d) period for which waiver is intended.

(3). the period of waiver shall be limited to one year:

Provided that the commission may on application from any person may extend the said validity by another year

(4). Commission at any time with the reasons recorded in writing, may cancel the waiver.

10. Application processing by the commission :

  (1). On receipt of an application by the Commission a date stamp shall be put on first page of the Application. An appropriate receipt for the application fee, according to the Application Fee Schedule available with the Commission's office, shall be prepared and provided to the Applicant.

(2). All paperwork pertaining to a License application shall be maintained by the Commission in a separate case file for each Licensee. The Commission shall maintain a registration log of all licenses issued and this information, including Commission's resolutions, shall be available for review by any interested parties,

3). As soon as may be possible, but not later than twenty-one (21) business days from the date of filing of the complete application, with all necessary information and documentation, an application shall be placed before the Commission by the Secretary for formal acceptance by the Commission

(4). A Commission, through a vote of its Members, may call for submission by the applicant of further supporting documentation for the purposes of evaluation of the application for admission, within a time frame of not more than 10 working days, before accepting the application. If the applicant fails to furnish the required information then the Commission may dismiss the application or refuse to accept the application. Such elapsed period shall not be considered as part of the time allotment allocated for the processing and approval of the application.

(5). The Commission may admit the application for consideration without requiring attendance of the applicant. The Commission shall not pass an order refusing admission of an application without providing the applicant an opportunity to appeal.

(6) (a) if the Commission admits the application, it may give such orders and directions for the service of notices as it deems appropriate to -­

(i). all persons affected by or interested in the application who in the opinion of the Commission are likely to be affected or interested;

(ii). persons who, by reason of their calling or expertise, may be of assistance to the Commission in arriving at a just and informed determination of the proceedings; and

(b). The Commission may, if it deems appropriate, direct the advertisement, by publication of the title and a brief description of the application, in any one or more newspapers, specified for the purpose by the Commission. Such publication shall also contain a notice of the availability of copies of the application at the office of the Commission.

7). A notice issued on the directions of the Commission may be served by the Secretary on the party concerned as the Commission may direct, and the Commission may direct the service to be effected through any one or more of the following modes of service, namely:­

(a). by registered post acknowledgment due; or

(b). by delivery through a messenger or courier service with acknowledgement due;

(c). by publication in a national daily newspaper in English language and one national daily newspapers in Bangla language,

(d) by advertisement on the Commission's web site in cases where the Commission is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable to serve notices in any other manner.

(e). Every notice required to be served on, or delivered to, any person may be sent to the person at the address furnished by him for service, or at the place where the person, or his agent, ordinarily resides or conducts business or personally works for gain.

(f).When a person is to be served during the course of the proceedings and such person has authorized in writing an agent or representative to represent him in the proceedings, such agent or representative shall be considered duly authorized to accept service of a notice and process on behalf of the person concerned.

(8) In the event of the Commission's acceptance of the application, the Commission shall direct its staff to proceed with the review and analysis of the application.

11. Evaluation of the application:

1) The Commission shall evaluate the respective applications, once it has been admitted, considering the following:

(a). the technical, administrative and financial capabilities of the applicant to perform the regulated activity;

(b). the viability of the sources of supply of energy;

(c). the effects of the proposed project on the existing transmission, transportation, storage, and distribution facilities;

(d). the methods and procedures adopted for operating and maintaining the production, transmission, transportation, storage, distribution or other related facilities;

(e). the technical specifications of the proposed production, transmission, transportation, storage, distribution or other related facilities;

(f). the estimated demand for the production, transmission, transportation, storage, distribution, or sale of energy;

(g). the justification of the project:

(i). the capital and financing costs of the project;

(ii). the avoidance of duplication with other energy systems; and

(iii). the assessment of economies of scale.

(2) The Commission may perform investigations to collect necessary information, consult the Government and other appropriate agencies, and generally take any measure or action it considers necessary to decide whether or not to approve such an application.

12. Objection and hearing:

(1) Any person objecting to the Application may present his/her objection

(a) by sending, within fifteen (15) days of publication of the notice of license application acceptance, a signed original and four (4) copies to the Secretary of the Commission and send a copy of his/her objection to the Applicant.

(b) the objection must clearly state the name and address of the person objecting to the application,

(c) the factual grounds for the objection with relevant information shall be given, and. (d) the objection is accompanied by the required filing fee, as fixed by the Commission from time to time.

(2). Commission shall consider the objection as part of a license hearing conducted in accordance with the Commission's regulation on hearings

13. Rejection of application:

(1) The Commission may reject an Application, after a hearing, for the following reasons:

a). The application and enclosed documents do not comply with the requirements of this Licensing Regulation and other applicable legislation of Bangladesh ;

(b). The submitted application and documents contain materially false information; or

(c). The Applicant does not qualify to engage in the requested type of activities under the Act, this Licensing Regulation, and any other Regulations issued by the Commission.

(2). The reason for an application rejection by the Commission shall be recorded in writing and provided to the Applicant within thirty (30) days of the Commission's order.

14. Contacts with applicant :

rom the time the application for a License or License amendments is received until the Commission has made a decision in writing and sent it to the Applicant, all contacts with the Applicant shall be in writing through the Secretary of the Commission, or his designated representative. All contact with the Applicant shall relate only to matters of clarification and additional information, to be provided in writing by the Applicant to the Commission.

15. Decision of the commission:

(1) All orders, determinations and decisions of the Commission shall be taken in writing and shall identify the resolve of the Commission.

(2) The Commission shall decide an application within forty-five (45) days from the date that the Commission has formally accepted the application.

(3) Copies of all orders, determinations and decisions made or issued by the Commission, shall be certified under the signature of the Secretary and the seal of the Commission, and shall be made available to any person on payment of such fees as the Commission may, from time to time, determine. All such orders, determinations and decisions shall be available at Commission's office at Dhaka for public inspection..

(4) Within thirty (30) days of the final determination in the proceedings by the Commission, an applicant may file an application for review of the final determination.

(5)An application for review shall specify the grounds on which review is sought by the party.

(6)Parties to the proceedings shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to respond to a motion for review, orally or in writing as deemed fit by the Commission.

(7) The Commission may, at its discretion, convene a conference or hearing to discuss the case.

(8)The Commission shall; unless gives notice to the parties, in writing, that a longer period of time will be required and specifies the additional period of time necessary to consider the motion; take action on an application for review within fourteen (14) days of receipt of such application

(9) The Commission may at its discretion, at any time, issue a provisional license. The Commission shall in its order indicate the rationale for the issuance of a provisional license. The rationales may include, but are not limited to:

(a). the activity under consideration is not currently covered by a Commission regulation formally published in the Gazette;

(b). the Commission has made a formal determination that the circumstances of the application require immediate or short term action.

10) The Commission may fix fees to be paid for the application of a provisional license and also the annual license fee that shall be paid by such license holder, until a formal license is issued.

16. Term of license:

(1)In general the License shall be valid for 2(two) years provided that the License shall come into force from the date that the Commission specifies in the License.

(2). The License shall continue to be in force, subject to payment of an annual license fee as at schedule B, for a period specified by the Commission in the License, unless this License is revoked or cancelled by the Commission at an earlier date.

(3)For renewal of a license as referred at sub clause (1) ;an application in the prescribed form by the Commission along with the required fee as at schedule B , shall be submitted to the Commission 30 days prior to the end of validity of the license.

(4)if vthe commission ids satisfied on receipt of an application as at sub clause (3) that the applicant has duly fulfilled the relevant conditions of the license and has submitted the annual accounts report of the previous financial year, the audit report and up-to-date certificate of payment of income tax and VAT etc then the Commission within 30 days of receipt of application shall renew the License and the Commission is satisfied to the extent that the applicant has not fulfilled the conditions as referred in the license shall not approve renewal of the License.

17. License revocation or cancellation:

(1) The Commission may revoke or cancel a License in cases that include, but are not limited to, the following:

(a). Licensee materially violates any of the terms or conditions of his License, Commission's regulations and other applicable legislation;

(b). Licensee is inactive for a period exceeding twelve (12) months from the date of issuance of the License;

(c). Licensee acts to degrade the physical environment by emission of pollutants, and by discharging harmful and toxic chemicals and materials in violation of the Environmental Protection Act and rules; and

(d). Licensee jeopardizes public safety by any of its actions.

(2). Commission may, after giving a fair chance to a licensee to show justified causes for violating the conditions of the license or provision of the act or licensing regulation, appropriately revoke or cancel the license .

(3).a licensee may appeal to the Commission against any revocation or cancellation of license as per provision of sub clause (2) within 15(fifteen) days from the day of order for revoke or cancellation of the License and the Commission shall dispose off the appeal within 60(sixty) days from the date of submission of the appeal and in this case the decision of the Commission shall be final

18. Application for amendment to an existing license:

An application for amendments or changes to an existing Commission issued License shall include:

(a) a copy of the current license;

(b). the proposed amendments to the license and reasons for them;

(c) a map depicting changes in the Service Area (if any changes are required); and

(d). any other documents relevant to the amendments proposed.

19. Approval of schemes of a licensee:

a. When a Licensee intends to undertake a major scheme, after issuance of a license, within the purview of the license, and constituting a significant change to the physical status of the operating license, a formal license amendment application for Commission review must be filed providing the following information:-

(a). description of the project, its purpose and cost, plus conceptual technical design, capacity, location options and preference, as well as ancillary or related facilities;

(b) for the government owned institutions, the scheme shall be supported by the description of their Annual development plan

(c). identification and preliminary assessment of any impacts by the project on the environment, proposals for reducing negative impacts and obtaining the maximum benefits from positive impacts and the cost of the project of implementing the proposals;

(d). Studies, or summary statements, identifying the need for the project and confirming the technical, economic and financial feasibility of the project, identifying assumptions, sources of data and alternatives considered (if applicable);

(e). a statement identifying any significant risks to successful completion of the project;

(f). a statement of the revenue requirement impact on the tariff chargeable to consumers;

(g). a statement of the applicant's anticipated cash flow, including provision during the period of construction, and the first three full years of operation of the project, for interest requirements, dividends, and debt requirements;

(h). a detailed estimate of the total capital costs of the project, showing the cost of construction by operating units such as substations/city gate stations, electricity /gas main lines, feeder lines, and separately stating the cost of rights of way, damages, surveys, engineering, and contingencies.

2) The Commission shall duly evaluate the project; process the application; and approve or reject the project scheme. The steps identified in the case of awarding a license shall be followed by the Commission in arriving at a decision on the project.

20. Duties and Obligations of licensee:

All licensees shall be required to:

(1). to comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations pertaining to or relevant, to the undertaking of the regulated activity for which a license is granted;

(2). to supply energy of the quality and specifications, which may be determined from time to time by the Commission;

(3) to refrain from exercising discrimination against or showing undue preference towards any consumer, or any class of consumers or producers of energy in any form;

(4) to not interrupt its service to its consumers in order to comply with its contractual obligations owed to another licensee or consumer, unless the contract between the licensee and the consumer expressly provides for the option;

(5) to provide transmission, transportation, storage, or distribution service, or make sales of energy to all persons who meet the eligibility criteria;

(6) to provide to the Commission such information as the Commission may, in writing, reasonably require in accordance with the provisions of its license;

g. to provide services and products to customers and other companies, including arrangements with any of its associated companies, on the basis of Commission approved tariffs, which include the rates to be charged, and the terms and conditions of service.

(8) The licensee should either have customer agreements or contracts,

(9)Those agreements or contracts issued pursuant to the approved rates and tariffs would not be individually approved by the Commission.

(10) If a proposed contract varies significantly from the approved rates, or terms and conditions of service, that contract should be provided to the Commission for approval.

(11) upon amending any supply contract, licensee must submit that contract to the Commission for review of tariffs, terms and conditions of service.

(12) to locate, design, construct, operate and maintain its facilities in strict accordance with the technical and other standards prescribed by the Commission and in a manner so as not to endanger public health or safety;

(13) to strictly follow the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act and rules,

(14) to submit to the Commission for approval, a consumer service manual setting the rights and obligations of the licensee with reference to all its consumers;

(15) to measure, using correct meters, and timely invoice consumers their consumption of energy;

(16) to not abandon any major facility, electricity line, or pipeline resulting in a service discontinuance without the prior written consent of the Commission;

(17) to lay, within a specified time, transmission, transportation, storage, or distribution lines in a particular area covered in its license;

(18) to mark with conspicuous signs where a energy line enters, leaves or crosses a road, railway, river, canal, waterway or other area of public use;

(19) to ensure prudence, cost effectiveness, and economic efficiency in its capital expenditure program;

(20) to provide a fee, determined by the Commission through its approval of rates and terms and conditions of service, or via the Commission's approval of a special contract, for the non-discriminatory open access to its transmission, transportation, storage, or distribution facilities, provided spare capacity is available;

(21) to provide interconnection to its transmission, transportation, storage, or non-exclusive distribution facilities, on mutually agreed terms and conditions, provided spare capacity is available and the interconnection is technically feasible;

(22) to extend and expand its transmission, transportation, or distribution facilities at the request of a person provided that it is technically feasible and all parties agree to the cost apportionment;

(23) to obtain and maintain current insurance, consistent with good business practice, from an insurer or syndicate, to cover all liabilities that may arise from the undertaking of the regulated activity;

(24) to publish information regarding available capacity;

(25) to not dispose of its assets, without the prior approval of the Commission, through a sale, or pledge of, or mortgage, (except for securing repayment of a loan or other financing facility obtained in the normal course of business),

(26) to take all necessary actions to ensure, the continuous and uninterrupted use of any part of the sold, pledged, mortgaged or charged assets;

(27) to require the licensee's auditors to owe the same fiduciary duty to the Commission as is owed to them, and to allow the disclosure by the auditors of any and all information required by the Commission ;

21. Application for termination of an existing license:

(1) Having been issued a license to serve the public as a regulated person under the Act, the licensee continues to have an obligation to serve the public until such time as relieved of that obligation by the Commission. However, a licensee may file an application for termination of an existing license when any of the following conditions arise:

(2). An application for termination of an existing License shall contain:

By the order of the Commission

(Dr. Mujibur Rahman Khan)

Chairman

Schedule -A

Vide Regulation 3(2),9(2) and 10

(1)Application fees- for different categories of services

(2) Application Fees (Fees for different categories of application)

Schedule-B

[Vide Regulation 15(10) and 16(2)]

ANNUAL LICENSING FEES