Question : Electricity Act

(a) whether Section 145 of the Electricity Act barred the jurisdiction of all civil courts over disputes relating to distribution and billing;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(c) whether in the absence of judicial forum relating to supply, billing and penalties levied by distributing companies, rural population face a lot of difficulties especially after electrifying nearly six lakh villages; and

(d) the steps taken by the Government to mitigate the problems faced by rural people as well as urban people in case of disputes?

THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) to (d) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.53 TO BE ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 22.07.2021 REGARDING ELECTRICITY ACT
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(a) & (b) : Cases pertaining to the unauthorized use of electricity are processed as per the procedure laid down in section 126 and 127 and section 145 bars the jurisdiction of civil courts in the matter. This is on account of the fact that the provisions of section 126 read with section 127 of the Act are complete code in itself as mentioned in the Hon’ble Supreme Court judgement (extract is at Annexure-I) and cover all relevant considerations for passing of an order of assessment by the assessing officer. The provisions of section 126 of the Act also provide an opportunity to the Consumer to get the initial provisional assessment order revised by raising an objection to the provisional order. Further, an appeal may be filed before the Appellate Authority constituted by the State Government under section 127 of the Act against the final assessment order passed by the assessing officer. The Central Government, for the purpose of section 127 of the Act had notified the Appeal to the Appellate Authority Rules, 2004 which provide that the State Government may by notification constitute an Appellate Authority.

(c) & (d) : Sub-sections (5), (6), (7) and (8) of section 42 of the Electricity Act, 2003 provide for grievance redressal mechanism for the aggrieved consumers. Any aggrieved consumer may approach the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) for settlement of their grievances against the distribution licensee in respect of any deficiency in service for providing electricity connection, unfair practice, billing, deficiency in providing any electric line or electric plant or electric meter, unsafe or hazardous electricity installation etc.

Further, any person aggrieved by the order passed by CGRF may approach the Ombudsman as per sub-section (6) of Section 42 of the Act.

Moreover, as per the Sub-sections of (2) (r) and (2) (s) of Section 181 of the Act, the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions have been vested with the powers to lay down guidelines for the consumer grievance redressal mechanism.

Government of India has notified Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 on 31.12.2020. These rules specify the obligations of the licensee and the good practices that must be adopted by the licensee to provide efficient, cost-effective, reliable and consumer friendly services so as to facilitate ease of use by the consumers. These rules shall ensure that new electricity connections, refunds and other services are given in a time bound manner and have empowered the consumers to have the option to apply for new electricity connection and pay bills online.

Some of the major provisions prescribed in these rules are with regard to metering, billing and payment, supply, disconnection and reconnection, reliability of Supply, penalties, standards of performance, compensation mechanism, grievance redressal mechanism etc. A copy of Gazette of India Notification dated 31.12.2020 in regard to “Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020” is enclosed at Annexure-II.