The government has amended the rights of electricity consumers, know what has changed

Electricity Rights Of Consumers Amendment Rules: The Government of India has amended the Electricity (Consumer Rights) Rules, 2020. In this regard, the Ministry of Power issued a notification on Wednesday (June 14). The notification said that the short name of these rules is the Electricity (Consumer Rights) Amendment Rules, 2023.

According to the notification, the changes made in sub-rule (5) of rule 5 of the Electricity (Consumer Rights) Rules, 2022 are as follows-

(5) Remote reading of all types of smart meters shall be done at least once a day and other pre-payment meters shall be read at least once in every three months by the authorized representative of any distribution licensee.

Energy consumption data shall be made available to the consumer through website or mobile application or short message service and similar services etc. Consumers having smart pre-payment meters may be provided data access to check the consumption done by them and minimum balance amount on daily basis.

(5a) After installation of smart meter, no penalty shall be levied on the consumer based on the maximum demand recorded by the smart meter for the period prior to the date thereof.

(5b) If the maximum demand recorded from the smart meter exceeds the sanctioned load in a month, the bill for that billing cycle will be calculated based on the actual maximum demand recorded. The consumer will be informed about this change in calculation through short message service or mobile application.

In the principal rules, after rule 8, the following rules shall be inserted—

(8a) Time of Day Tariff- Time of day tariff for commercial and industrial consumers with peak demand of more than 10 kW shall be made effective from a date not earlier than 1st April, 2024 and time and day tariff for consumers other than agricultural consumers shall be made effective not earlier than 1st April, 2025 And this time of day tariff will become effective immediately after the installation of smart meters for the consumers having smart meters.

The time of day tariff specified by the State Commission for commercial and industrial consumers during the peak period of the day shall not be less than 1.20 times the normal tariff and for other consumers it shall not be less than 1.10 times the normal tariff, but the State The tariff for solar hours of the day specified by the commission will be at least 20% less than the normal tariff for that category of consumers.

Time of day tariff will be applicable on normal tariff energy charge component. The duration of the peak hours shall not exceed the solar hours notified by the State Commission or the State Load Despatch Centre. Solar hour means a period of eight hours in a day as specified by the State Commission.

(8b) Tariff Display- The tariff for each category of consumers shall be displayed on the website of the distribution licensee and shall be communicated to the consumers at least one month in advance through the website of the licensee as well as through energy bills or short message service or mobile application and similar services etc. Changes in tariff excluding fuel surcharge and other charges will be notified.

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