Legal Nature of Application and Technical Specifications under Contract on Technological Connection with Electric Power Industry

In the legal literature traditionally considerable attention is paid to the legal nature of the contract on technological connection in the electric power industry. However, there are practically no works that provide a legal analysis on the nature of the application for technological connection. In addition to this, the issue of the legal role of technical specifications issued, as a general rule, by a power grid organization before concluding a contract has not been sufficiently studied. At the same time, the rules, procedure and conditions for forwarding an application and issuing technical specifications affect the legal nature, determining it, and the procedure for recognizing the contract on technological connection as concluded. The last issue is also given little attention in scientific and practical publications regarding the possibility of recognizing the contract as concluded due to the preparation by the power grid organization of technical specifications based on the submitted application. The work shows the imperfection of the legal transplantation carried out and the application in the legislation on the electric power industry of legal instruments provided for by civil legislation. On the one hand, it declares the application of the special legal regime of a public and obligatory contract to the technological connection contract. On the other hand, the procedure for its conclusion established by the by-laws does not correspond to the legal models of such agreements, ignoring the content of these legal instruments and distorting it. Thus, without recognizing an application for technological connection as an offer to conclude this contract, it not only excludes the possibility of its acceptance by the power grid organization by means of implicit actions by sending technical specifications to the applicant, but also the directly public nature of the contract. The above, in turn, excludes the possibility for the applicant to demand the power grid organization to execute technical specifications. The applicant only has the right to demand that the power grid organization concludes a contract. Thus, it is proposed to use the legal model of the adhesion contract when concluding it. In this case, it makes it possible to fully apply the rules on public and obligatory agreements to relations regarding technological connection.