Electricity Consumer Grievance Redressal Forums to come up at corporate offices of escoms in Karnataka

Are your electricity-related grievances not resolved at a district-level Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGFRF)? Very soon you will be able to escalate these grievances to the CGRF at the corporate offices of the respective Electricity Supply Companies (escoms) in Karnataka.

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) released the draft KERC (Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum and Ombudsman) (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2025, to help consumers resolve their concerns more effectively. 

As of now, CGRFs are present in revenue districts of every escom’s jurisdiction.

According to the draft document: “The commission is of the view that establishing an additional CGRF at the corporate office of the distribution licencee would help in helping consumers mitigate their grievances by escalating them to one more level at the corporate office if the grievances are not redressed at the district-level CGRF.”  

Along with existing regulations, KERC has added a few new clauses and terms, including the word ‘Prosumer’, which means a person who consumes electricity from the grid and can also inject electricity into the grid for distribution licencee, using the same point of supply. 

The forum will have four members, including a chairperson who is an officer of the escom not below the rank of a Chief Engineer. Another member will also be an official of the escom not below the rank of a superintending engineer, and one member representing the consumer will be nominated by the escom, and another who will have experience or knowledge of electricity sector, consumer affairs and law will be appointed by the KERC.

So far, only those who had knowledge of the electricity sector and consumer affairs could be appointed to the forum.  

The last two members will hold the office for a period of three years. They will also be paid a monthly honorarium and sitting fee (determined by KERC), travel allowance and dearness allowance (DA) admissible to a Class I government servant. 

“The distribution licencee shall facilitate or create digital interface and auto escalation of the complaint to CGRF at corporate level, if the grievances are not redressed in the consumers’ their favour, or the grievances are not resolved within a period of sixty (60) days from the date of admission of the complaint at the district-level CGRF,” the draft states. 

While consumers have expressed their appreciation for the new draft, they opine that the corporate-level CGRFs will not make much difference.  

“This is too little too late. Some of these provisions were notified by the Union Government almost three years ago, and KERC missed them at the time. Moreover, these escalation forums should be established at district levels and not just corporate offices,” said an expert in the electricity sector and a consumer activist.