The new central legislation called the “Electricity Act 2003” has some important consumer-oriented provisions to improve the quality of electricity services. Accordingly, the Maharashtra State Electricity Regulatiory Commission has laid down several regulations defining the standards for service quality that the electricity company must abideby while providing electricity service. Similarly independent agencies like the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum and the Electricity Ombudsman have also been created to ensure proper implementation of these regulations. The booklet provides detailed information about common problems faced by domestic consumers, like, how to obtain a new connection, how to read an electric bill, what is to be done in case of a wrongly issued bill, how one registers a complaint, etc. The booklet also gives information and discusses various issues related to metering and billing. The booklet tries to simplify and explain the consumers’ rights while dealing with the electric company as well as the regulations and standards that the electricity company has to follow. The booklet could prove useful to individuals working on this issue in rural areas as well as to the voluntary organizations working with the marginalized sections of society. The booklet is expected to serve the purpose of creating awareness in the public about consumer rights and make the electric company’s operations more consumer-oriented as well as to increase accountability of the company and improve service delivery.

A newer version of this booklet is available here.