New Electricity Connection Delayed After Deposit

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

You paid the demand note and the security deposit, and the connection still has not come. Your state Supply Code fixes a maximum time for this, and many states pay compensation when the DISCOM misses it. Start by matching your delay against the SOP timeline below, then push on the exact stage that is stuck.

The exact numbers come from your State Electricity Regulatory Commission Supply Code and Standards of Performance, and the Ministry of Power's consumer rules push DISCOMs to give new connections within a defined period in metro, urban and rural areas. Look up your state's clause, note the days, and quote it.

A “delayed connection” is rarely one blob of delay. It is usually stuck at one named stage:

• No demand note issued. Feasibility or survey is pending. Push for the demand note.
• Demand note paid, no release. This is the most common deposit case. The money is in, the connection is not. Quote the post-payment SOP window.
• Line extension pending. A pole, cable or transformer is needed. The window is longer, but it is still fixed, not open-ended.
• Document or NoC objection. A missing paper or an ownership or right-of-way objection. Cure it once, cleanly, in writing.

Knowing the stage tells you which timeline applies and what to demand.

1. Primary ask: release the connection within the SOP time, with compensation for the delay if your state provides it.
2. Fallback ask: refund the deposit i�you no longer want the connection or the delay is unreasonable. The security deposit and any connection charges you paid are refundable when the connection is not given, less any genuine cost actually incurred. Demand the refund in writing with your receipt.

To,
The Assistant / Executive Engineer (Operations),
[Name of DISCOM] - [Sub-division]

Date: [DD/MM/YYYY]

Subject: New connection not released after deposit - Application No.
[number] - request to release within SOP time, with compensation, or
refund the deposit

Sir/Madam,

I applied for a new electricity connection vide Application No. [number]
on [date]. I paid the demand note / security deposit of Rs [amount] on
[date] vide receipt [number]. The connection is still not released.

As per the [State] Supply Code / Standards of Performance, a connection of
this type is to be released within [period] of payment. I request you to:
1. Release the connection within [days], and pay the delay compensation
   provided under the Standards of Performance; or
2. If release is not possible, refund my deposit of Rs [amount] and
   connection charges, less any cost actually and reasonably incurred,
   with a written account of it.

Please state the present stage of my application and the reason for delay.
Kindly give me a complaint / docket number.

Yours faithfully,
[Name, application no., mobile, email]

If your DISCOM is government-owned, RTI to its Public Information Officer is well suited here, because a new-connection delay is usually a file sitting in someone's tray. Ask for the date-wise movement of your application file, the feasibility or site survey report, the reason recorded for the delay, the SOP timeline applicable to your category, and the compensation due for the delay. The RTI reply often makes the section release the connection because the delay is now on record. RTI does not itself release the connection or refund the deposit, and it takes up to 30 days, so run it alongside the CGRF, not instead of it. A purely private DISCOM may be outside RTI; then RTI the State Commission for the regulations and use the consumer forums.

• Not getting an application or docket number, so the delay cannot be pinned.
• Accepting “network work pending” with no fixed date. The Supply Code still fixes a window.
• Forgetting that the deposit and charges are refundable if the connection is not given.
• Not claiming the delay compensation the Standards of Performance provide.

Your state Supply Code fixes the maximum days, often a short window after the demand note is paid where no line extension is needed, and a longer fixed window where it is. Check your State Commission's clause and quote it.

Many states' Standards of Performance provide a per-day compensation when the connection deadline is missed, sometimes paid automatically. Claim it in your complaint and, if needed, at the CGRF.

Yes. The security deposit and connection charges are refundable when the connection is not given, less any cost actually and reasonably incurred. Demand the refund in writing with your receipt.

Network extension takes longer, but the Supply Code still fixes a window for it. It is not open-ended. Ask for the expected date and quote the applicable timeline.

First a senior division officer, then the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum of your DISCOM, then the Electricity Ombudsman of your state.

Indirectly. For a public-sector DISCOM, an RTI for the file movement and reason for delay often pushes the section to act, but it cannot order the release. Use it alongside the CGRF.

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Download the new connection delay checklist (PDF).