Just like people need three meals a day to provide nutrition
The production of enterprises is also inseparable from stable power supply
Sudden power outage may cause considerable losses to enterprises
If this happens
Enterprises can report to the power supply company Claim compensation?
Basic case information
Company A is a processing and manufacturing enterprise of aluminum-plastic and steel-plastic composite strips. Aluminum strips and steel strips covered with polyethylene films need stable power supply. A sudden power outage in the production line will destroy the coating on the surface of the entire metal strip. Slitting operations produce waste materials. The company
A stated: From June 3 to 4, 2020, a power supply company suddenly had three power outages in two days without notifying the power outage in advance, causing it to produce more than ten rolls of steel strips and aluminum strip waste, causing a loss of 178,000. Yu Yuan, then sued a power supply company to the court, claiming compensation for losses of more than 178,000 yuan.
A power supply company stated that company A’s power lines were indeed cut off due to power equipment failures between June 3 and 4, 2020, but only two power outages occurred on June 4, and there was no power outage on June 3. The losses claimed by Company A are wrong; Company A has high requirements for power supply quality, but has not taken protective measures to deal with power outages, and it itself is also responsible; in addition, the power supply contract between the two parties has clearly stipulated that due to power operation failure, If damage is caused to the electricity user, according to the provisions of Article 95 of the "Power Supply Business Rules", compensation shall be made according to five times the electricity fee of the electricity that may be consumed during the power outage, which is more than 2,000 yuan.
was later found out by the court: Company A's power lines were outage at around 6:00 on June 4, 2020, and the power supply was restored at around 8:00 am. The power was outage again around 11:50 that day, and the power supply was restored around 12:15 , the cause of power outage is sudden line failure. On June 3, 2020, the voltage and current curves of Company A's power lines were continuous and without breakpoints, and no line outages occurred. As early as May 2017, Company A signed a "High Voltage Power Supply Contract" with a power supply company due to its application for electricity. The electricity consumption was classified as "large industrial electricity" in order to prevent unexpected power outages from affecting production safety. , a power supply company reminded Company A in the contract to "take necessary electrical or non-electrical security measures" and clearly stipulated that if the power user causes damage due to power operation failure, in accordance with the provisions of Article 95 of the "Power Supply Business Rules" deal with.
Regarding the actual losses caused by the power outage, based on the statements of the parties, on-site inspections, actual weighings, transaction prices in recent years and other factors, the court determined that the power outage caused a total loss of steel strips and aluminum strips of more than 97,000 yuan.
The referee reasoned
The court held that the power outage on June 4 was caused by a sudden line failure and was not caused by the power supply company's planned maintenance or temporary maintenance of the power facilities. The power supply company has no obligation to notify in advance, and objectively cannot respond to sudden failures in advance. Notice, However, the sudden line failure is a power operation accident and does not fall into the exemption of force majeure, fault of the power user, etc. A power supply company should still bear breach of contract liability to the power user for failing to fulfill its power supply obligation. "High Voltage Power Supply Contract" stipulates the calculation method of a certain power supply company's liability for breach of contract when a power operation accident causes losses to power users. The calculated liquidated damages are more than 2,000 yuan, which is significantly lower than the loss of Company A. Company A can Actual losses of more than 97,000 yuan were claimed for compensation.
Regarding the issue of waste disposal, if the observant party is unwilling to use it later, it should usually be disposed of by the breaching party. Considering the actual situation of this case, Company A has experience and convenience in waste disposal, and a power supply company will incur additional transportation fees to retrieve the waste. , storage fees and other disposal costs. From the perspective of improving disposal efficiency and reducing social governance costs, the court believed that it was more reasonable for Company A to dispose of the waste. Accordingly, Company A should deduct the residual value of the scrap from the loss amount. Based on the scrap transaction prices of Company A in recent years, the court determined that the residual value was more than 21,000 yuan. After deducting the residual value of the scrap, there was an actual loss of more than 76,000 yuan.
Regarding the issue of loss liability, a power supply company noticed that Company A was a "large industrial consumer of electricity" and then kindly reminded it to "take necessary electrical or non-electrical security measures." However, Company A knew that it had high requirements for power supply quality, but Failure to take necessary protective measures and certain faults can reduce the power supply company's liability .
Accordingly, the court determined that a power supply company was primarily responsible for the loss and was responsible for 80% of the loss, while Company A was responsible for 20% of the loss. In the end, the court ruled that a power supply company should compensate Company A for losses of more than 60,000 yuan.
The judge said
It is generally stipulated in the power supply contract that if a power failure causes damage to the power user, in accordance with Article 95 of the "Power Supply Business Rules", five times of the electricity fee that may be incurred during the power outage will be paid. Compensation for liquidated damages.
In this case, there is a huge gap between the liquidated damages and the company's actual losses. According to the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 585 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, if the agreed liquidated damages are lower than the actual losses, the people's court may increase them at the request of the parties. Therefore, when a power outage causes large losses to an enterprise's production and operations, the enterprise can claim compensation based on the actual losses.
(pictures from the Internet)
Source: Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court
