Electricity Rules, 2020
- Beginning of an era of empowering Power Consumers in a paradigm shift bringing Consumers to Centre Stage : Shri R K Singh
- Consumers to have the option to apply for new electricity connection and pay bills online
- Consumers to get electricity connection in prescribed timeline which is 7 days in Metro cities, 15 days in other cities and 30 days in rural areas; Violations to result in penalties
- Rules to benefit about 30 crores existing and prospective consumers in the country
- These rules are important step towards furthering the ease of doing business across country: Power Minister Shri R.K.Singh
Posted On: 21 DEC 2020 3:48PM by PIB Delhi
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:
a)
Rights of consumers and Obligations of Distribution licensees
b)
Release of new connection and modification in existing connection
c)
Metering arrangement
d)
Billing and Payment
e)
Disconnection and Reconnection
f)
Reliability of supply
g)
Consumer as Prosumer
h)
Standards of Performance of licensee
i)
Compensation Mechanism
j)
Call Centre for Consumer Services
k)
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 the consumer to have minimum standards of service for supply of electricity from the distribution licensee.
3.
Release of new connection and modification in an existing connection.-
•
Transparent, simple and time-bound processes,
•
Applicant has an 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:-
i.
No supply to a consumer beyond a particular duration, to be specified by the
Commission;
ii.
Number of interruptions in supply beyond the limits as specified by the
Commission;
iii.
Time taken for connection, disconnection, reconnection, shifting;
iv.
Time taken for change in consumer category, load;
v.
Time taken for change in consumer details;
vi.
Time taken for replacement of defective meters;
vii.
Time period within which bills are to be served;
viii.
Time period of resolving voltage related complaints; and
ix.
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.
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