Is the government power cut a force majeure?

Government actions are not force majeure. For the determination of force majeure, force majeure should have three characteristics: unforeseeable, inevitable and insurmountable. Force majeure, as a statutory exemption, is the embodiment of the principle of fault. Force majeure applies to both tort liability and contract liability. The criteria for judging force majeure should consider both subjective and objective factors. Force majeure is not only different from commercial risk, but also different from situation change. The effect of force majeure should be determined according to its actual influence on legal relations in the case. Generally speaking, force majeure includes:

1, major natural disasters. Such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, waves, floods, locusts, storms, hail, sandstorms, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches and mudslides. The earthquake that just happened in Wenchuan, Sichuan, China belongs to this type.

2. Major social abnormal events. Such incidents often refer to social abnormal and sudden events, which are neither natural disasters nor government actions, such as wars, armed conflicts, strikes, riots and riots. Although these incidents are man-made, they are unforeseeable, inevitable and insurmountable to the parties involved in civil relations outside the bureau, so they belong to force majeure.

The overall reasons for the government's power restriction are the dual control policy of national energy consumption, rising coal prices, economic transformation and other reasons. Power rationing is to ensure the completion of the binding energy-saving target in the Tenth Five-Year Plan and promote the carbon neutrality target at the peak of carbon dioxide emission. The specific reasons are as follows: 1, coal price rises: coal is generally needed for thermal power generation. Due to the excessive increase in coal prices, a thermal power plant now has a net loss of millions every day. Coal prices have been at a high level this year, and there is less coal stored in power plants. Insufficient coal storage in power plants leads to limited power generation and insufficient power supply; 2. Dual control of energy consumption: The National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice to further improve the dual control of energy consumption, clarified the overall arrangement of dual control of energy consumption, and required all regions to take effective measures to ensure the completion of the annual dual control of energy consumption, especially to reduce energy intensity. Therefore, in order to achieve the goal of reducing energy consumption, the first-level and second-level early warning provinces and cities are implementing it from top to bottom, and they are constantly overweight, making power cuts and production stops a reality; 3. Economic transformation: Power rationing can also accelerate the elimination of backward production capacity and accelerate the upgrading of industrial structure. In the critical period when global trade is increasingly dependent on China, foreign trade enterprises can also be forced to take the initiative to raise prices, increase bargaining power, prevent disorderly expansion of production capacity, and maintain strategic strength in the critical period when inflation in other countries is serious.

Power rationing refers to temporary measures to reduce customers' electricity load, mainly through intermittent or timely power supply. Under the influence of restrictive policies, many factories need to suspend production temporarily. According to the notices issued by various places at present, the provinces with the year number of 202 1 include Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Yunnan, Hunan, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang.

Second, what are the main measures to limit electricity?

1. Inform the major customers to control and reduce the power load by themselves.

2. The power load management system is adopted to release the terminal power load index, and local control is implemented to limit the power load.

3. The central power load management system is used to directly operate the shunt switch or main switch connected to the terminal to limit the power load.

3. Why are there power outages in these places?

1. First of all, because the National Development and Reform Commission has issued a notice to further improve the dual control of energy consumption, and defined the overall arrangement of the dual control of energy consumption, in order to actively respond to the dual control policy of energy consumption, various provinces across the country have introduced a series of measures to promote energy conservation and reduce consumption, such as limiting the total electricity consumption of high-energy-consuming enterprises, raising electricity prices, and limiting electricity consumption periods.

2. In May this year, the Department of Environmental Protection of the National Development and Reform Commission reminded the energy conservation authorities in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other provinces, and urged the relevant regions to further strengthen the dual control of energy consumption to ensure the completion of the annual target and task of dual control of energy consumption in the region. In Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shandong and other provinces, because there are many processing and manufacturing industries with large electricity consumption, the intensity of power restriction is more obvious. Among them, the most serious industries are textiles, chemicals, steel and so on.

3. The reasons for the power cut-off and shutdown also include the increase in international coal prices, because the increase in coal prices is too large, resulting in a high daily loss of a thermal power plant. According to a packaging material worker in an eastern province, coal supply is tight, and power generation in power plants is limited due to insufficient coal storage, so power supply is tight.

To sum up, the main reason why 202 1 issued the power restriction order was that the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice to improve the dual control of energy consumption. In addition, the National Development and Reform Commission also pointed out the three major reasons for power restriction and power shortage in these areas; That is, the rapid recovery of industrial production leads to an increase in electricity consumption, the extremely cold weather leads to an increase in power load, the external power receiving capacity is limited, and the power supply is difficult due to unit failure.

Legal basis:

Article 180 of the Civil Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) shall not bear civil liability if it fails to perform its civil obligations due to force majeure. Where there are other provisions in the law, those provisions shall prevail. Force majeure is an unforeseeable, unavoidable and insurmountable objective situation.