• 9964432222
  • Mail Us
  • Appointment
  • Locate Us
  • Chat Now
  • Courses
  • Login
  • Register
Manifest IAS
JournalsOfIndia
Advertisement
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Science & Tech
  • Environment
  • Law & Policy
  • History
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Science & Tech
  • Environment
  • Law & Policy
  • History
No Result
View All Result
JournalsOfIndia
No Result
View All Result
Home Economy

Electricity rights of consumers rules 2020

December 22, 2020
in Economy, Law & Policy
Reading Time: 5min read
0
Electricity rights of consumers rules 2020
122
VIEWS
Share on TelegramShare on Facebook

In news

Union Government for the first time lays down Rights to the Electricity Consumers through “Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020”

Need for the rules

According to the government, 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.

Key highlights of the rules

Following key areas are covered in the Electricity (Rights of consumers) Rules:

  1. Rights of consumers and Obligations of Distribution licensees
  2. Release of new connection and modification in existing connection
  3. Metering arrangement
  4. Billing and Payment
  5. Disconnection and Reconnection
  6. Reliability of supply
  7. Consumer as Prosumer
  8. Standards of Performance of licensee
  9. Compensation Mechanism
  10. Call Centre for Consumer Services
  11. Grievance redressal mechanism

 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 consumers to have minimum standards of service for supply of electricity from the distribution licensee.

 Release of new connection and modification in existing connection:

  • Transparent, simple and time bound processes,
  • Applicant has 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:

 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

 Billing and payment :

  • Transparency in applicable consumer tariff and bills
  • Consumers shall have the option to pay bills online or offline.
  • Provision for advance payment of bills

 Disconnection and reconnection provisions:

Reliability of supply

  • The distribution licensee shall supply 24×7 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.

 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.

 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

 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:-
    • No supply to a consumer beyond a particular duration, to be specified by the Commission;
    • Number of interruptions in supply beyond the limits as specified by the Commission;
    • Time taken for connection, disconnection, reconnection, shifting;
    • Time taken for change in consumer category, load;
    • Time taken for change in consumer details;
    • Time taken for replacement of defective meters;
    • Time period within which bills are to be served;
    • Time period of resolving voltage related complaints; and
    • Bill related complaints.

 Call Centre for Consumer Services:

  • Distribution licensee shall establish a centralised 24×7 toll-free call centre
  • Licensees shall endeavour to provide all services through a common Customer Relation Manager (CRM) System to get a unified view

 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.

 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.

Significance of the rules 

  • These rules shall empower the consumers of electricity and 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
  • 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.
  • The Rules will benefit about 30 crores existing and the prospective consumers in the country.
Source: PIB
Tags: Prelims

Related Posts

Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) agreement

Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) agreement

January 25, 2021
Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

January 25, 2021
Section 29 of the POCSO Act

Section 29 of the POCSO Act

January 25, 2021
Industrial Policy Resolutions

Industrial Policy Resolutions

January 23, 2021
Data Governance Quality Index

Data Governance Quality Index

January 23, 2021
ShramShakti portal

ShramShakti portal

January 23, 2021
Vande Bharat Express

Vande Bharat Express

January 23, 2021
Rapid Assessment System

Rapid Assessment System

January 23, 2021
Draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019

Draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019

January 22, 2021
Guidelines for Digital Media Regulation

Guidelines for Digital Media Regulation

January 22, 2021
Please login to join discussion
JournalsOfIndia

Our vision is to orient the readers to grasp the facts objectively and analyse critically. In the rush of reaching first to the readers, the websites miss the balanced opinion, which is the need of the hour. We aim to reach the readers with more crispness, preciseness and relevance. We bring the articles in UPSC way for the civil services aspirants and the Wisest Way for general readers.

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Disaster Management
  • Economy
  • Environment
  • Ethics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Geography
  • Governance
  • History
  • Law & Policy
  • Opinion
  • People in News
  • Places in News
  • Science & Tech
  • Security
  • Society

Browse by Tag

AIR Big Picture Down to Earth GS-1 GS-2 GS-3 GS-4 Kurukshetra Mains News Paper PIB Prelims RSTV Spotlight on AIR Yojana

Newsletter

The most important UPSC news and events of the day.

Get Journals daily newsletter on your inbox.

© 2020 JournalsOfIndia - A free initiative by Manifest Team.

  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • Prelims Snippets
  • Mains Articles
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Science & Tech
  • Environment
  • Agriculture
  • History
  • Law & Policy
  • Security
  • Course Portal
  • Prelims Test Portal
No Result
View All Result

© 2020 JournalsOfIndia - A free initiative by Manifest Team.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In