Electricity Billing Complaint

To, The Executive Engineer / Nodal Officer [discom_name], [office_name] Date: [complaint_date] Subject: Complaint regarding incorrect billing — consumer no. [consumer_number] Sir/Madam, 1. CONSUMER PARTICULARS Name : [consumer_name] Consumer no. : [consumer_number] Premises : [premises_address] Bill number : [bill_number] Billing period : [bill_period] Amount disputed: Rs. [disputed_amount] 2. THE COMPLAINT [complaint_details] 3. METER READING The reading recorded by me at the premises is [last_reading], which does not accord with the reading on which the bill has been raised. 4. I request that you kindly: (a) arrange an inspection and a physical reading of the meter, and test it if necessary; (b) revise the bill in accordance with the actual consumption; (c) not take coercive action, including disconnection, while this complaint is pending; and (d) inform me in writing of the outcome. 5. I am willing to pay the undisputed portion of the bill without prejudice to this complaint, and request that the amount so payable be intimated to me. Yours faithfully, [consumer_name] Consumer no.: [consumer_number] Contact: [contact_number] ACKNOWLEDGMENT Received on ______________ Complaint no. ______________ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PAY THE UNDISPUTED PART, AND GET THE COMPLAINT NUMBER Two practical points decide how these go. FIRST, OFFER TO PAY WHAT IS NOT IN DISPUTE. If your bill is normally around a certain figure and this one is several times that, pay the usual amount and dispute the excess in writing. It removes the distribution company's strongest lever — the threat of disconnection — and it demonstrates good faith if the matter escalates. SECOND, GET A COMPLAINT NUMBER AND KEEP IT. An oral complaint at a counter is not something you can rely on later. Every escalation from here asks what you did first. THE TWO-YEAR RULE IS WORTH KNOWING. Under Section 56(2) of the Electricity Act, 2003 a sum due on account of electricity supplied cannot be recovered after two years from the date it first became due, unless it has been continuously shown as recoverable arrears. Courts have applied this to bar recovery of very old arrears suddenly raised as a lump sum. If you have been handed a large bill for a period years ago, this is the provision to raise. ESCALATION, IN ORDER: 1. The distribution company's own grievance cell, in writing. 2. The CONSUMER GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL FORUM of the distribution company, which every licensee is required to establish under Section 42(5) of the Act. 3. The ELECTRICITY OMBUDSMAN appointed by the State Regulatory Commission, under Section 42(6), if the Forum's outcome does not satisfy you. 4. A Consumer Commission under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — deficiency in service — though choose one forum rather than running two. DISCONNECTION generally requires notice under Section 56, and a disconnection carried out without following the prescribed procedure, or while a bona fide dispute is pending, is itself actionable. TAKE A DATED PHOTOGRAPH of the meter showing the reading. It is the single most useful piece of evidence in a billing dispute and it costs nothing.