21-Dec-2020: Union Government for the first time lays down Rights to the Electricity Consumers through “Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020”

Union Ministry of Power has promulgated rules laying down the rights of power consumers in the country.  While issuing these rules here today via Press Conference, Shri R.K. Singh, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, said, “These rules shall empower the consumers of electricity and added that these Rules emanate from the conviction that the power systems exist to serve the consumers and the consumers have rights to get the reliable services and quality electricity.” He said that Distribution Companies across the country are monopolies – whether government or private – and the consumer has no alternative – therefore it was necessary that the consumers’ rights be laid down in Rules and a system for enforcement of these rights be put in place.  “This is what the rules provide for”, Shri Singh said.

The minister further said, “These rules are also an important step towards furthering the ease of doing business across the country. Implementation of these Rules shall ensure that new electricity connections, refunds and other services are given in a time bound manner.  Wilful disregard to consumer rights will result in levying penalties on service providers.” He said that this is one of the major initiatives and yet another step by the Union Government to put consumer in the centre-stage of public utility services.  The Rules will benefit about 30 crores existing and the prospective consumers in the country. Stressing upon the need for awareness of all consumers especially in rural areas/villages, he said, States and DISCOMs are being advised to provide wide publicity to these highly consumer friendly Rules of the Government.

1. Following key areas are covered in the Electricity (Rights of consumers) Rules:
   1. Rights of consumers and Obligations of Distribution licensees
   2. Release of new connection and modification in existing connection
   3. Metering arrangement
   4. Billing and Payment
   5. Disconnection and Reconnection
   6. Reliability of supply
   7. Consumer as Prosumer
   8. Standards of Performance of licensee
   9. Compensation Mechanism
   10. Call Centre for Consumer Services
   11. Grievance redressal mechanism
2. Rights and Obligations.-
   • It is the duty of every distribution licensee to supply electricity on request made by an owner or occupier of any premises in line with the provisions of Act.
   • It is the right of consumer to have minimum standards of service for supply of electricity from the distribution licensee.
3. Release of new connection and modification in existing connection.-
   • Transparent, simple and time bound processes,
   • Applicant has option for online application, 
   • Maximum time period of 7 days in metro cities and 15 days in other municipal areas and 30 days in rural areas identified to provide new connection and modify an existing connection:
4. Metering –
   • No connection shall be given without a meter
   • Meter shall be the smart pre-payment meter or pre-payment meter.
   • Provision of Testing of meters
   • Provisions for replacement of defective or burnt or stolen meters specified
5. Billing and payment –
   • Transparency in applicable consumer tariff and bills
   • Consumer shall have the option to pay bills online or offline.
   • Provision for advance payment of bills
6. Disconnection and reconnection provisions
7. Reliability of supply
   • The distribution licensee shall supply 24x7 power to all consumers. However, the Commission may specify lower hours of supply for some categories of consumers like agriculture.
   • The distribution licensee shall put in place a mechanism, preferably with automated tools to the extent possible, for monitoring and restoring outages.
8. Consumer as prosumer
   • While the prosumers will maintain consumer status and have the same rights as the general consumer, they will also have right to set up Renewable Energy (RE) generation unit including roof top solar photovoltaic (PV) systems – either by himself or through a service provider.
   • Net metering for loads up to ten kW and for gross metering for loads above ten kW.
9. Standards of performance.
   • The Commission shall notify the standards of performance for the distribution licensees.
   • Compensation amount to be paid to the consumers by the distribution licensees for violation of standards of performance.
10. Compensation mechanism
    • Automatic compensation shall be paid to consumers for which parameters on standards of performance can be monitored remotely.
    • The standards of performance for which the compensation is required to be paid by the distribution licensee include, but are not limited to, the following, namely:-
      1. No supply to a consumer beyond a particular duration, to be specified by the Commission;
      2. Number of interruptions in supply beyond the limits as specified by the Commission;
      3. Time taken for connection, disconnection, reconnection, shifting;
      4. Time taken for change in consumer category, load;
      5. Time taken for change in consumer details;
      6. Time taken for replacement of defective meters;
      7. Time period within which bills are to be served;
      8. Time period of resolving voltage related complaints; and
      9. Bill related complaints.
11. Call Centre for Consumer Services
    • Distribution licensee shall establish a centralised 24x7 toll-free call centre
    • Licensees shall endeavour to provide all services through a common Customer Relation Manager (CRM) System to get a unified view
12. Grievance redressal mechanism .-
    • Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) to include consumer and prosumer representatives.
    • The consumer grievance redressal has been made easy by making it multi-layered and the number of consumer’s representatives have been increased from one to four.
    • The licensee shall specify the time within which various types of grievances by the different levels of the forums are to be resolved. Maximum timeline of 45 days specified for grievance redressal.
13. General Provisions.-
    • Use of online access to various services such as application submission, monitoring status of application, payment of bills, status of complaints raised ,etc., to consumers through its website, web portal, mobile app and its various designated offices area-wise.
    • The distribution licensee shall provide all services such as application submission, payment of bills, etc., to senior citizens at their door-steps.
    • The details of scheduled power outages shall be informed to the consumers. In case of unplanned outage or fault, immediate intimation shall be given to the consumers through SMS or by any other electronic mode along with estimated time for restoration.

16-Sep-2020: Union Power Ministry in a historic pro-consumer move  drafts Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020

Union Power Ministry has drafted Rules providing for Rights of Electricity Consumers for the First Time. Electricity Consumers are the most important stakeholders in the power sector. The sector exists because of them. Having provided access to electricity to all citizens, it is now important to focus on consumer satisfaction. For this, it is imperative to identify the key services, prescribe minimum service levels and standards with respect to these services and recognize them as rights of consumers.

With this objective, a draft of Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 have been prepared for the first time by the Government.

The main features are –

• Reliability of service: SERCs to fix average number and duration of outages per consumer per year for DISCOMs.
• Timely and simplified procedure for connection: Only two documents for connection up to load of 10 kw and no estimation of demand charges for loads up to 150 kw to expedite giving connection.
• Time period of not more than 7 days in metro cities, 15 days in other municipal areas and 30 days in rural areas, to provide new connection and modify existing connection.
• 2 to 5% rebate on serving bills with delay of sixty days or more.
• Option to pay bills in cash, cheque, debit cards, net banking etc. but bills of Rs. 1000 or more to be paid online.
• Provisions related to disconnection, reconnection, meter replacement, billing, payment, etc.
• Recognition to the emerging category of consumers known as “Prosumers”. Persons who are consumers and have also set up a rooftop units or solarised their irrigation pumps. They will have right to produce electricity for self-use and inject excess in the grid using same point of connection up to limits prescribed by the SERC.
• Compensation / penalties for delay in service by DISCOMs; compensation to be automatic as far as possible, to be passed on in the bill.
• 24x7 toll free call centre, web-based and mobile applications for common services like new connection, disconnection, reconnection, shifting of connection, change in name and particulars, load change, replacement of meter, no supply, etc. with facilities for SMS/email alerts, online status tracking and auto escalation.
• Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum with 2-3 representatives of consumers at various levels starting from Sub-division for ease of consumer grievance redressal.

Draft Rules have been circulated by Ministry of Power on 9th September 2020 for seeking comments/views/suggestions of Consumers up to 30th September 2020. They shall be finalized after taking into account all the suggestions received and issued.