The Ministry of Power has notified rules for rights of electricity consumers which provide for penalties upto Rs 100,000 on distribution companies for gratuitous load shedding and delay in grant of new connection or addressing a faulty meter. The draft rules were earlier issued by the power ministry in September 2020. …
As per the rules, a new connection has to be given within a maximum time period of seven days in metro cities, 15 days in other municipal areas, and 30 days in rural areas. The rules also stipulate that discoms must supply power on request from the occupier of any premises, and that minimum standards of service is consumers’ right. Also, discoms have to supply power 24×7, except for areas such as agriculture where continuous power is not required. Discoms are also required to put in place systems preferably automated for monitoring and restoring outages. There would a new category of consumers who would generate power also (prosumer). The rules say that the prosumers will maintain consumer status and have the same rights as the general consumers.