Section 17 in The Regulations for Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum and Electricity Ombudsman, 2004
17. Procedure for filing a complaint.
(1)Any consumer, who is aggrieved on the order on the grievance or non-redressal of his grievances by forum constituted under section 42 (5) of the Electricity Act, 2003 by licensees relating to providing of electricity supply, may himself or through his representative make a complaint to the Electricity Ombudsman. Complaints of common nature (which may be considered applicable to more than one forum) can be directly brought upto Electricity Ombudsman by a State Level Consumer Association.(2)The complaint shall be in writing duly signed by the complainant or his authorised representative and shall state clearly the name of the individual or the organisation, postal address, telephone number and e-mail address (if any) of the complainant.(3)The complaint shall also contain the number of the service connection, category of the service, address of the location of the service connection, name of the local licensees' office and address against which the complaint is made, the facts giving rise to the complaint supported by documents, if any, and the relief sought from the Electricity Ombudsman.Note:- The licensees shall ensure that the address of the Electricity Ombudsman to whom the appeals could be made by the consumers against the order of the forum are displayed in their premises. The licensee shall ensure that copies of these Regulations are made available to the consumers on payment of a cost, which shall not be more than the cost of printing or reproduction.(4)No complaint to the Electricity Ombudsman shall lie unless -(a)The complainant had before making a complaint to the Electricity Ombudsman made a written representation to the forum of the licensee named in the complaint and either the forum had rejected the complaint or the complainant had not received any reply within a period of two months from the date of filing of the grievance or the complainant is not satisfied with the reply given to him by the forum. This shall, however, not be applicable to the complaints of common nature described under clause 17 (1);(b)The complaint is made within three months after cause of action has arisen;(c)The complaint, which is not settled, is not in respect of the same subject, which was settled through the office of the Electricity Ombudsman in any previous proceedings whether received from the same complainant or along with one or more complainants or anyone or more of the parties concerned with the subject matter;(d)The complaint does not pertain to the same subject matter for which any proceedings before any Court is pending or a decree or award or a filial order has already been passed by any competent Court; and(e)The complaint is not frivolous or vexatious in nature.
