What to do if your electricity bill is wrong

Check the meter reading on the bill against the actual reading on your meter, today. A bill based on an 'assessed' or 'average' reading rather than an actual one is extremely common where meters are not read, and it is the most frequent cause of a bill that looks wrong.

Check the number of units and the period. Bills covering more than a month, or two bills covering overlapping periods, produce apparent spikes that are arithmetic rather than consumption.

Understand slab pricing. Most residential tariffs are telescopic: units are charged in slabs at rising rates, so a modest increase in consumption can produce a disproportionate increase in the bill once you cross into a higher slab. This is not an error.

Check the fixed charges, which are levied per sanctioned load regardless of consumption, plus electricity duty, and any fuel surcharge or regulatory charge. These vary by state and are set by the commission, not by the discom.

Check your sanctioned load against what you actually use. Exceeding sanctioned load attracts penalties in many states, and a load enhancement application is usually cheaper than repeated penalties.

Check the category. Domestic, commercial and industrial tariffs differ sharply, and a premises wrongly categorised as commercial is a large and recurring overcharge that is worth correcting formally.

Complain to the discom first — through its app, portal, call centre or local office — and get a docket or complaint number. Every subsequent forum will ask for it, and a complaint with no reference number effectively did not happen.

Put it in writing as well, by email, stating the consumer number, the disputed bill, the reason and the remedy you want. Attach a photograph of the meter showing the current reading and the date.

Ask for a meter test in writing if you believe the meter is faulty. The discom is obliged to arrange testing, typically for a prescribed fee that is refunded if the meter is found defective. Where a meter is found faulty, billing for the relevant period is revised according to the state's supply code.

If unresolved within the period specified by your state, escalate to the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum. Every distribution licensee must have one under section 42(5) of the Electricity Act. It is free, does not require a lawyer, and has a prescribed timeline for disposal. Its existence and contact details must be published by the discom, usually on the bill itself.

If the Forum's decision is unsatisfactory or it does not decide within the prescribed period, appeal to the Electricity Ombudsman appointed by your state commission under section 42(6). Also free, also without a lawyer.

The consumer commission route via e-daakhil is also available in parallel for deficiency in service, and courts have held that consumers may approach it notwithstanding the Electricity Act's own mechanism — though the specialised forums are usually faster on billing matters.

Disconnection for non-payment requires 15 clear days' written notice under section 56 of the Electricity Act. Disconnection without that notice is unlawful, and the discom's ability to disconnect is suspended if you pay the undisputed portion of the bill under protest while the dispute is pending.

Section 56(2) contains a provision that is genuinely valuable and widely unknown: no sum due can be recovered after two years from the date it first became due, unless it was continuously shown as arrears in the bills. A discom producing a sudden demand for years-old dues that never appeared on any bill is on very weak ground, and courts have repeatedly said so.

Where a bill is genuinely owed but unaffordable, ask for an instalment arrangement in writing before the due date. Most discoms have a policy for this, and the terms offered to someone who asks early are consistently better than those offered after a disconnection notice.

Winter or summer protections, medical protections and provisions for vulnerable households vary by state and are worth asking about explicitly.

If disconnected, reconnection is required within a prescribed period of clearing the dues — again set by the state supply code — and reconnection charges are capped.

Never negotiate a disconnection with a field official on the spot for a cash payment. Payments are made to the discom through its official channels, and anything else is either a fraud or a serious problem later.

New connections are applied for online in most states, with prescribed documents — proof of ownership or occupancy, identity, and in many states a completion certificate or an undertaking. Your state commission's supply code sets a statutory timeline for release of a new connection, typically counted in days, and delays beyond it can attract compensation payable to you under several states' standards of performance regulations.

Those standards of performance regulations are worth knowing about generally: most state commissions prescribe guaranteed timeframes for restoration of supply, meter replacement, new connections and complaint resolution, with automatic compensation for breach. Almost nobody claims it, and in several states the compensation is required to be credited automatically to the bill.

Name transfer after buying or renting a property is a separate application and matters more than it appears: until it is done, the arrears and liability attach to the connection in the previous holder's name, and disputes follow the property rather than the person.

Always check for outstanding dues on a connection before buying or renting a property. Unpaid electricity dues attach to the premises in many states and become the new occupant's problem.

Rooftop solar is administered through your discom under net or gross metering arrangements set by the state commission, with subsidy available for residential rooftop systems under the central scheme. Applications go through the national portal and the discom empanels installers.

For prepaid and smart meters, which several states are rolling out, the same grievance structure applies — and disputes about smart meter readings go to the same Forum and Ombudsman.