'Explain why you want Force Majeure!' PNGRB
Once and for all, the PNGRB wants to pre-empt any friction with gas retailers over Force Majeure claims.
And what's its answer? Two new bureaucratic forms, which the PNGRB will ask Force Majeure applicants to submit to avoid misunderstandings. On June 20 (2024), the PNGRB published a public notice soliciting views and comments from gas retailers by July 10 (2024) on the draft forms.
"With an objective to streamline the submission and processing of Force Majeure claims by city gas distribution entities, two formats have been developed," reads the one-page notice. A PNGRB source says the regulator aims "to bring clarity and ease of understanding" and has "tried to keep the structure of both the forms as basic and simple as possible."
Form number one is a Force Majeure notification and closure request form, asking gas retailers to explain the reason for the request, such as war, hostilities, major riots or civil commotion, earthquakes, floods, storms, lightning or other natural disasters, and government restrictions. Gas retailers must attach photographs and other documentary evidence in addition to the relevant dates and the percentage of a retail gas area impacted, plus the number of people affected.
Form number two is two pages asking for similar details but focusing on the nature of the claim, a brief description, and the work planned. "The PNGRB may also do a site visit of the area where the city gas retailer wants a Force Majeure," we hear.
Covid waves in 2020 and 2021 saw a flood of Force Majeure claims from city gas retailers after a national lockdown from March 24 (2020) until April 14 (2020). In the two years before the outbreak of the pandemic, the downstream regulator awarded 134 areas under CGD-IX and CGD-X and allowed gas retailers eight years to achieve the Minimum Work Programme (MWP) targets.
By the end of April 2020, the PNGRB received more than 80 requests for Force Majeure from Adani-Total, Torrent Gas, AG&P, Gujarat Gas, Mahanagar Gas, GAIL Gas, Indraprastha Gas, Megha and others.