Electricity complaints — the rules, the forums, the RTI

Most consumers negotiate with their electricity board as if the relationship were a favour. It is not. Since December 2020, and tightened by the 2023 amendment, the consumer is a rights-holder with timelines the distribution licensee owes in writing — for connections, meters, bills, complaints and compensation. The Rights of Consumers Rules sit above the licensee's own conditions of supply, and every State Electricity Regulatory Commission enforces them.

• New connections — after a complete application with documents: 3 days in metropolitan areas, 7 days in other municipal areas, 15 days in rural areas. The original 2020 Rules had allowed 7, 15 and 30 days; the 2023 amendment cut each window.
• Rooftop solar — commissioning of the rooftop solar PV system within 15 days (down from 30), and no separate feasibility study is required for systems up to 10 kW.
• Separate connection for EV charging — the amendment allows a dedicated connection for electric-vehicle charging.
• Metering — smart meters to be read remotely at least once a day.

When a licensee breaches a timeline, the Rules provide for compensation to the consumer, and the regulator can act. But compensation follows a record — and the record is what a distribution office will not volunteer.

1. Step 1 — the licensee. Every distribution licensee runs complaint centres; lodge the complaint and take the docket number. No docket number, no case.
2. Step 2 — the CGRF. Under Section 42(5) of the Electricity Act, 2003, each licensee has a Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum. If the licensee does not resolve the grievance, or you are unsatisfied, the CGRF hears it.
3. Step 3 — the Electricity Ombudsman. Under Section 42(6), the Ombudsman appointed by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission hears consumers unsatisfied with the CGRF order. His decision binds the licensee on payment of any amount awarded.
4. Alongside — the Regulatory Commission for systemic and tariff-side complaints, and CPGRAMS to keep a central record moving.

The ladder is cheap, paper-based, and designed to be used without a lawyer. What it cannot survive is a file nobody will produce — which is where RTI enters.

A distribution company owned by the state or a state undertaking is a public authority. The following RTI, filed to the CPIO of the distribution company, converts a stale complaint into a documentary record:

1. The status of my new-connection / meter-change / solar-net-metering
   application no. _____ dated _____, and the present stage of processing.
2. The prescribed timeline under the Electricity (Rights of Consumers)
   Rules, 2020 as amended, for this category of work, and the reasons
   for delay beyond it.
3. The name and designation of the officer holding the file.
4. A copy of the notings and file movement for the past 30 days.
5. The compensation payable to me for the delay under the Rules, and
   the amount calculated for my case.
6. The number of connection applications pending beyond the prescribed
   timeline in my subdivision as on this date.

Real example. Kashvi Pathak's rooftop-solar net-metering file sat for two months on a “feasibility pending” note — for a 5 kW system, where the 2023 amendment requires none. The RTI above, filed to the discom's CPIO, produced the noting showing the feasibility report had actually been generated and never forwarded. The connection was commissioned eleven days later.

Yes — the Rights of Consumers Rules provide compensation for specified delays and service failures, worked out per the Rules and the regulator's orders; the RTI above asks for the computation.

Yes. The Rules bind every distribution licensee, public or private — though for RTI purposes a private licensee holds records the Act may not reach directly; route those through the Regulatory Commission, which is a public authority.

Electricity supply is a regulated service with its own statutory ladder — CGRF and Ombudsman under Section 42. The consumer forums take deficiency claims after that ladder is exhausted, not instead of it.

File the complaint first. RTI is for the record — billing revisions, meter test reports, feeder outage logs — not for the service failure itself.

• Drainage complaints — the municipal route
• Water supply complaints
• How-to-apply guides
• The RTI Playbook book

• PIB — Government amends Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2023: connection and rooftop-solar timelines
• Ministry of Power

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026. Connection timelines 3/7/15 days and the 15-day rooftop-solar commissioning limit verified against the Ministry of Power release of 27 November 2023 this run; the old page carried an unverified compensation-rate table and two untraceable case citations, which have been removed.