Moved in, but still no permanent electricity connection? Do these five things first

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

You took possession months ago, yet your flat runs on the builder's temporary construction connection or a diesel generator, and the builder bills you per unit at his own rate. The law is on your side: a distribution licensee has a statutory duty to supply, and the builder cannot sit on the paperwork forever. Start with these five actions this week:

1. Check the per-unit rate on the builder's bill against your DISCOM's published domestic tariff. A gap of Rs 8 to Rs 12 per unit is the usual sign you are on DG or temporary supply.
2. Ask the builder in writing for the permanent connection application number, the date it was filed with the DISCOM, and the status of the electrical inspector's clearance.
3. Ask the DISCOM's local office or call centre whether any application for individual meters in your building exists at all. Note the answer with date and name.
4. Find out what is pending: the builder's internal electrification and substation work, infrastructure charges, the CEIG (Chief Electrical Inspector to Government) safety clearance, or the DISCOM's own delay.
5. Open a dated paper trail. Every later forum, from the consumer grievance forum to RERA, runs on it.

Section 43 of the Electricity Act, 2003 requires the distribution licensee to give supply within one month of receiving a complete application, where no extension of mains or new substation is needed. The Act provides for a penalty on the licensee, which can extend to Rs 1,000 per day of default. The Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 tightened this for new connections: in the range of 7 days in metro cities, 15 days in other municipal areas and 30 days in rural areas, subject to the state regulator's notified standards. Each state electricity regulatory commission also publishes Standards of Performance (SOP) regulations with automatic compensation for missed timelines.

These timelines bind the DISCOM, not the builder. So the first real question in your case is where the file is actually stuck.

Before the DISCOM can energise individual meters in a new building, the builder normally has to finish the internal electrification, build or hand over the transformer or substation space, pay the infrastructure and service-line charges, and obtain the electrical inspector's (CEIG) safety clearance for the installation. If any of these is pending, the delay is the builder's, and your forum is RERA and the consumer commission. If all of these are done and the DISCOM is still sitting on energisation, the delay is the licensee's, and your forum is the DISCOM's own ladder: complaint, then CGRF, then the electricity ombudsman.

The written answers you collected in the five first actions tell you which branch you are on. Often it is both, and you run both tracks in parallel.

Here is why some builders are slow on purpose. Suppose the DISCOM domestic tariff in your city averages Rs 7 per unit and the builder bills DG or temporary-connection power at Rs 18 per unit. A family using 300 units a month pays Rs 5,400 instead of Rs 2,100, a difference of Rs 3,300 every month. Across a 200-flat project, that is about Rs 6.6 lakh a month flowing through the builder's maintenance account, with the diesel and temporary-tariff costs underneath it opaque to you. Ask in writing for the basis of the per-unit rate, the diesel purchase bills, and the temporary connection's DISCOM bills. If the builder refuses, that refusal goes into your RERA complaint, and the maintenance-accounts angle is covered in corpus and maintenance records withheld.

If the builder's side is complete and the DISCOM is the bottleneck:

1. Register a complaint with the DISCOM's customer care and keep the complaint number.
2. If unresolved within the SOP timeline, file before the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) that every DISCOM must run under section 42(5) of the Act. It is free.
3. If the CGRF order disappoints or is ignored, appeal to the state Electricity Ombudsman appointed under section 42(6). Also free, and decided on documents in most states.
4. Claim the SOP compensation for the missed connection timeline by name. It is rarely paid unless asked for.

Electricity supply is part of the development the promoter promised in the sanctioned plan and brochure. Failing to provide permanent connections after offering possession breaches the promoter's duties under section 11(4) of the RERA Act, 2016, and allottees can seek directions and compensation before the state RERA. Pair this complaint with your other handover gaps if any; the wider stand-off is covered in builder has the OC but refuses handover. Note that an OC normally issues only when basic services are in place, so a building running on DG months after “possession” often signals an OC problem too; check it through the OC copy guide.

State-owned DISCOMs (for example MSEDCL, UPPCL, BESCOM, TANGEDCO) are public authorities under the RTI Act. File an RTI with the DISCOM's PIO asking: the date any application for your building's permanent connections was received, the demand note issued and whether charges were paid, the file movement since, and the reason supply is not energised. The CEIG office and the state electricity regulatory commission are also public authorities, so the safety-clearance status is reachable the same way. See how to file RTI online.

Private DISCOMs such as Tata Power, Adani Electricity, BSES and Torrent Power are generally not under RTI. For them, use the CGRF and ombudsman route, and address RTI only to the CEIG and the regulator. The builder, being private, is never an RTI target; his delays are RERA's business.

Many DISCOMs ask for an NOC or possession proof from the developer, but the 2020 Rights of Consumers Rules push licensees towards accepting ownership or occupancy documents. If the DISCOM insists on an NOC the builder will not give, get the refusal in writing from both sides; it makes a clean CGRF and RERA record.

No. It is imposed through the adjudication process, and the SOP compensation under your state's regulations is the more practical money claim. Quote both in your CGRF complaint and ask specifically for the compensation amount.

Only to the extent your agreement and the maintenance terms allow, and the builder must account for actual cost. Demand the diesel bills and the calculation. Unexplained backup charges are a standard head of dispute before state RERA benches and consumer commissions.

Yes, DISCOM tariff schedules price temporary supply higher than permanent domestic supply. That is exactly why a building stuck on a temporary connection for months after possession is costing you money every billing cycle, and why the builder's delay is a quantifiable loss in your complaint.

RERA can direct the promoter to complete the works and formalities on his side and can award compensation. It cannot direct the DISCOM, which answers to the CGRF, the ombudsman and the regulator. That is why the two tracks run in parallel.

State regulations typically require disposal within 45 to 90 days. The ombudsman appeal usually has a similar outer limit. Free, document-driven, and faster than most buyers expect.

• Builder delayed the water connection after possession
• Builder has the OC but refuses possession handover
• Builder not providing the occupancy certificate copy
• Builder or RWA withholding corpus and maintenance records
• All practical guides
• State RTI portal directory

Download the permanent electricity connection checklist (PDF).