When your society can take only so many EV chargers: allocating the capacity fairly

A housing society can ration only the electrical capacity it supplies itself: a common-area, single-point or high-tension connection, and the shared bays. A charging point on a resident's own DISCOM meter draws on that resident's sanctioned load, which the resident settles with the distribution licensee, so a society queue should not be applied to it. For the society's own supply, start from a licensed electrician's written headroom figure in kW, divide it by an agreed cap per point and round down. Then choose one of five allocation methods, test it for fairness, add a release rule that carries no penalty, and pass the whole thing as a general-body resolution. None of this is legal advice.

Whose capacity is it? Only what the society supplies can be rationed

First find out which supply each proposed point would draw on. A building holds capacity in three places, and only two of them are the society's.

The first is your flat's own DISCOM connection. Its sanctioned load is yours, and the texts that deal with it send the resident to the licensee, not the committee: the Ministry of Power's clause 15(3) says "the owner will apply to the distribution licensee" for more load, and Karnataka's clause (v) and Haryana's clause 17(a) say the same in their own words, quoted in the entitlement section below.

The second is capacity the society holds: the common-area connection that runs lifts, pumps and lighting; a single-point bulk connection, where every flat is fed through the society's sub-meters; or a high-tension connection with the society's own transformer. Here residents' points compete for one number the society holds. The third is space: shared bays, walls and cable routes. The committee controls space, but a rule about space should not be used to ration capacity the society does not supply.

So write the scope first: the rule rations society-supplied capacity and shared bays, and says in terms that it does not apply to a point on a member's own DISCOM meter or separate EV connection. If the limit is the DISCOM's transformer outside your gate, that is the DISCOM's to resolve, not the committee's to ration. If it is a rising main or meter panel shared inside the building, get in writing from the DISCOM and your licensed electrician whose equipment it is before treating it as either. See own meter, sub-meter or common meter and sanctioned load and EV charging.

Turning the electrician's headroom figure into a number of points

Allocation starts from one number: the extra EV load, in kW, that the society-supplied connection can carry at any one time, given its measured peak, protection and cables. Ask your licensed electrician for that figure in a dated, signed report that says whether it assumes managed or unmanaged chargers. How it is measured is under "What must be measured before anyone chooses" in load management when a building has several EV chargers; how many points residents need in total is in how many charging points a society needs.

The formula: places = (headroom − any reserve for shared bays) ÷ cap per point, rounded down. A fraction of a place is safety margin, not another allocation.

• Suppose your report states 20 kW of headroom. Substitute the figure from your own report.
• Suppose the general body keeps 3.3 kW for one shared bay, so residents with no designated space have somewhere to charge: 20 − 3.3 = 16.7 kW left to allocate.
• At a cap of 3.3 kW per point: 16.7 ÷ 3.3 = 5.06, so 5 places.
• At a cap of 7.2 kW per point: 16.7 ÷ 7.2 = 2.32, so 2 places.
• Suppose 9 flats have applied. At 3.3 kW, 5 are served and 4 wait; at 7.2 kW, 2 are served and 7 wait.

If the design uses dynamic load management, a controller shares the budget and the electrician should state in writing how many connections it can serve; those are your places. Have the figure re-tested before each new batch, because the building's other loads move it.

Five allocation methods and their fairness tests

Run four fairness tests on any draft before the general body votes:

1. Decided before names are known. The method is fixed before anyone knows whom it favours.
2. Like cases treated alike. Maharashtra's draft revised model bye-laws would require parking allotment to be "fair, transparent, equitable and non-discriminatory" (draft bye-law 76(iii), not in force), a usable yardstick.
3. Visible. Every applicant can see the register, their application date and their position.
4. A way back. No allocation becomes permanent by accident; there is a tenure, a review or a release rule.

First come, first served. On the figures above, applicants one to five get places and applicant six waits for a release, however long that takes.

Draw of lots. Drawing 9 names for 5 places gives each applicant five chances in nine. Draw all 9 at one meeting, so names six to nine become the waiting list in drawn order.

Rotation. One bay offers 7 overnight sessions a week; among 4 waiting residents, 7 ÷ 4 = 1.75 nights each. Whether that covers their driving is a units question for the point-count guide.

Priority. In Karnataka the order supports a priority tier at common points: residents with no designated parking space "have to use the EV charging stations /points in the identified common areas within the premises" (clause (v)). Elsewhere it is your general body's choice. Limit the criteria to what a document proves, such as no designated space in the parking register, or the electrician's written finding that a resident's own meter cannot reach their bay.

Everyone in. 16.7 kW among 9 applicants is 16.7 ÷ 9 = 1.86 kW each. Whether a charger can be set that low is for the licensed electrician, and whether the car can use it is in its own specification. With a floor of 3.3 kW, this method stops working at the sixth applicant.

What residents' entitlement to a private point means for rationing

Several primary texts give an individual resident a route to a private point that runs through the DISCOM, not the society, and a rationing rule that reaches into that route stands on the weakest ground. Whether any of them binds a private society is unsettled; see what is actually settled.

• Ministry of Power. "Guidelines for Installation and Operation of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure-2024", letter No. 12/2/2018-EV dated 17 September 2024, addressed to Union Secretaries and state Chief Secretaries (Bureau of Energy Efficiency copy, last verified 16 October 2026). Clause 16(5): "Residents can install private EV charging stations in their designated parking spaces. The Distribution Licensee will ensure electricity supply through the resident's existing meter or a separate sub-meter depending on consumer's choice." The duty falls on the licensee; the clause does not say whose capacity a sub-meter draws on. Clause 16(3): "Residents can decide on the types and number of community EV chargers to be installed." See our clause-by-clause reading.
• Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission. Order "Streamlining of Procedure for installation of EV (Electric Vehicle) Charging Units", dated 30.07.2024 (copy published by HESCOM, last verified 16 October 2026). Under clause (v), flat owners "who are allocated a specific parking space" may connect within their sanctioned load or "enhance the load as per the requirement with the approval of the Distribution licensee". The order is made under Karnataka's Conditions of Supply for distribution licensees, and none of its seven clauses mentions a society's consent.
• Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission. Regulation No. HERC/55/2021 on charging infrastructure and tariff for electric vehicles, notified 23 December 2021 and circulated by Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam with Sales Circular No. UEV-04/2022 dated 21 March 2022 (UHBVN copy, last verified 16 October 2026). Clause 17(a): consumers "need not to take a separate connection" and "can charge Electric Vehicles within their respective connection, provided that load with EV charging does not exceed the Sanctioned connected/contracted load". The Commission's own site did not respond on 16 October 2026, so we could not check for later amendments; confirm with your DISCOM.
• Maharashtra draft revised model bye-laws (DRAFT, not in force). Draft 83(i): "Every Member shall be entitled to install a private Electric Vehicle (EV) charging facility" at a parking space lawfully allotted or available to them, subject to the Act, the Rules, the bye-laws and applicable law. Draft 83(ii): the society "shall not withhold or refuse the same except for reasons relating to non-compliance with applicable law, safety standards or these Bye-laws". Draft 83(xii): the committee "shall not impose any condition which is inconsistent with or more restrictive than the applicable law or Government directions". Source and status are in the next section.

What follows for a rationing rule:

• Lowest exposure: rationing society-supplied capacity and shared bays, applied to every applicant alike.
• Higher exposure: making a resident queue, or accept the society's kW cap, for a point on their own DISCOM meter.
• Unsettled: whether lack of capacity is a lawful ground of refusal under a clause like draft 83(ii). A licensed electrician's written finding that the society's supply cannot safely carry another point looks like a safety ground; a committee's unsupported view does not. We found no decision on either.

For your state's law and your registered bye-laws, take advice from an advocate.

Draws, waiting lists and rotation in Maharashtra's model bye-laws

We found no primary text that tells a society how to ration electrical capacity among members. The nearest are the parking chapters of Maharashtra's model bye-laws, which ration another scarce common facility. Read them as analogies only: they allot parking, not kilowatts, and bind a society only where it has registered them as its own bye-laws. Who holds a parking slot, and on what terms, is a question of parking law this page does not answer.

The 2014 model bye-laws for a tenant co-partnership housing society (dated 2014 on its cover, hosted by the Commissioner for Co-operation and Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Maharashtra: sahakarayukta.maharashtra.gov.in, last verified 16 October 2026) provide:

• 77(a): the society "shall in the General Body meeting frame and adopt Parking Rules", so the rules are the general body's, not the committee's;
• 77(b): allotment "shall be made by the Committee on the basis of 'First Come First Served', for available parking slots". The analogy: a dated register as the default order;
• 79: "Normally no Member shall be eligible for being allotted more than one parking slot", and extra slots go year to year, "provided the same are not required by other Members, who have not been allotted even a single parking slot". The analogy: one allocation per flat until nobody is waiting, and a second vehicle's allocation renewed yearly;
• 80: where eligible members exceed slots, the committee "shall allot parking slots on annual basis by fair and transparent process, in concurrence with the General Body regulations". The analogy: an annual review while the waiting list is long.

The draft revised model bye-laws are a DRAFT and not in force. The Department of Co-operation, Marketing and Textiles lists them for "submission of suggestions and objections" (department listing and draft text, both last verified 16 October 2026), and neither prints a date of issue. A Marathi press note on the draft's first page, from the Commissioner for Co-operation and Registrar, invited suggestions and objections until 27 August 2026; on 16 October 2026 the listing showed no adopted version. Their parking and EV chapter, bye-laws 76 to 83, goes further:

• 79(vii): where applicants exceed spaces, allotment "shall be made by a fair and transparent method such as draw of lots, rotation or any other method approved by the General Body". The analogy: the general body chooses the method and minutes it;
• 82(iii): no cancellation "except after giving the Member a reasonable opportunity of being heard and by recording the reasons for such cancellation in writing". The analogy: the procedure before any allocation is released;
• 82(vi): a waiting list kept "in a fair, transparent and chronological manner".

Equal caps or unequal ones: who may buy a higher cap?

Once the headroom is fixed, the cap per point is a fairness decision before it is a technical one: every kilowatt given to one point is a kilowatt another applicant cannot have. How a static limit is set is under "Static limits in practice" in the load-management guide linked above; whether a resident's car can use 7.2 kW at all is in 3.3 kW versus 7.2 kW charging, since the vehicle's onboard charger sets the ceiling.

Count what a higher cap costs the queue. On the same 16.7 kW, everyone at 3.3 kW serves 5 households. Give one household 7.2 kW: 16.7 − 7.2 = 9.5 kW, and 9.5 ÷ 3.3 = 2.88, so 2 more places and 3 households in all. One higher cap displaces two households; in base places it is 7.2 ÷ 3.3 = 2.18.

• Base cap for all first. A higher cap comes only from headroom left when nobody is waiting at the base cap.
• Shown in places. The register records a 7.2 kW allocation as 2.18 places, or whatever your caps give.
• Money does not buy kilowatts ahead of the queue. A resident pays for their own hardware, but the society's headroom is common; selling it to whoever pays most fails the second test.
• Reversible. When a waiting list reappears, higher caps return to the base cap on written notice, before any base allocation is touched.

A resident who wants more than the queue can spare can offer to fund more capacity. The society then applies to the DISCOM for more load, as the Ministry's clause 16(6) provides for community stations; see load enhancement for EV charging. Maharashtra's draft 83(iv) would put the cost of "electrical load augmentation" for a private facility on the member. If the general body accepts, record that the funder gets the slice they paid for first and how later users reimburse them, using the method in what later EV owners should pay the neighbour who funded the shared cable. Every change to caps, protection or cabling must be specified and certified by a licensed electrician before a point is energised.

Use-it-or-release rules

A use-it-or-release rule returns an idle allocation to the waiting list, so first come, first served does not become permanent. It is not a penalty and should not be written as one: no fine, no forfeited deposit, and nothing that touches a resident's own-meter point. Whether a society may levy any fee, deposit or fine on EV owners at all is a separate question, answered by its registered bye-laws; see what a society may lawfully charge EV owners.

Measure use from records the society already keeps, the sub-meter or the charger's session log (see access control for shared society chargers).

• Suppose your general body sets the threshold at 30 units a calendar quarter. Substitute your own figure.
• Suppose a sub-meter reads 1,204 on 1 April and 1,219 on 30 June: 1,219 − 1,204 = 15 units, below the threshold.
• Count two consecutive quarters below it, not one, so a single long trip does not trigger release.

1. Written notice to the member with both readings.
2. A stated period to respond; documented absence, vehicle repair or illness pauses the count.
3. If the second quarter also falls short, a hearing before the committee with reasons recorded in writing, as the draft would require before a parking allotment is cancelled (82(iii)).
4. Release to the next applicant; the member rejoins the waiting list on the date of release.

Release returns kilowatts, not property. If the member paid for a charger and cable fed from the society's supply, the hardware stays theirs: the incoming user can buy it at a figure both sign, or the member removes it, with the work done by a licensed electrician. An allocation should also end when the flat is transferred, as the draft would provide for parking allotments not lawfully attached to the flat (82(iv)). Session rules for shared bays, such as overstaying, belong in the booking rules in charging without an allotted parking slot.

Two-wheelers and cars in the same queue

One queue, ordered by date or draw, with each applicant's capacity counted in kW, is easier to defend than two. A removable scooter battery charged inside a flat draws on the flat's own meter and stays outside the queue; its safety questions are in charging an electric two-wheeler in an apartment.

Count each point at the figure your licensed electrician puts in writing. That may be the circuit's protected rating rather than the charger's label, since nothing stops a larger charger being plugged in later, so a scooter point can take as much headroom as a car point.

Then decide what happens when the next applicant does not fit. Suppose 16.7 kW, car points counted at 3.3 kW and scooter points at 0.8 kW (take both from your own report), and a register of nine:

Under strict order the queue stops at position six: 5 households served, 2.7 kW idle. Under fit-the-next, positions seven to nine are served from the 2.7 kW and position six keeps first claim on the next 3.3 kW released: 8 of 9 served. Choose before the register is processed, which is the first fairness test.

Writing the allocation rule into a resolution

Put the rule to the general body, not the committee alone. The Ministry's clause 16(3) leaves the number of community chargers to residents, the 2014 model's 77(a) gives parking rules to the general body, and the draft's 79(vii) names methods "approved by the General Body". Notice, quorum and majority come from your own registered bye-laws. See putting EV charging on the AGM agenda, the clause-by-clause policy walkthrough and the policy discussion draft.

A model resolution, to adapt and have checked against your registered bye-laws by a local professional:

1. Scope. This rule allocates only electrical capacity supplied by the society through its ___ connection, and the shared EV bays. It does not apply to a point on a member's own DISCOM meter or separate EV connection.
2. Capacity. ___ kW is available for EV charging, per the report of ___, licensed electrician, dated ___, re-tested before each new batch and at least yearly.
3. Reserve. ___ kW is kept for shared bays for members without a designated parking space.
4. Cap. Each allocation is ___ kW. A higher cap comes only from capacity unused when nobody is waiting, is recorded in base places, and reverts on ___ days' written notice when a waiting list reappears.
5. Method. The first batch is allotted by draw of lots at this meeting, the full draw fixing the waiting order; vacancies go to the waiting list in order. One allocation per flat until nobody is waiting.
6. Mixed queue. Each applicant counts at the electrician's figure for that point; if the next does not fit, the next who fits is served and the first keeps its place.
7. Register. The secretary keeps a register of applications, dates, kW and positions, open to every member.
8. Release. An allocation below ___ units in each of two consecutive quarters is released after written notice with the readings, ___ days to respond and a hearing with written reasons. Documented absence or repair pauses the count. No fine or forfeiture applies, and hardware remains the member's property.
9. Transfer. An allocation ends when the flat is transferred; the incoming member may apply.
10. Safety. No point is energised until its installation has been specified and certified by a licensed electrician, within the capacity in item 2.
11. Review. At each annual general meeting, and whenever the capacity figure changes. If more than ___ applicants wait longer than ___ months, the committee obtains a fresh assessment and costed options for load management or load enhancement.

Common questions

Can our society refuse a new EV point because the building's capacity is full?

It depends whose capacity is full. On your own DISCOM meter, the extra load is between you and the licensee under the texts quoted above. On the society's common, single-point or high-tension supply, the society may have to ration, but by a written rule applied to everyone alike. Whether a refusal is lawful in your state is unsettled; this is not legal advice.

Is first come, first served a fair way to allocate EV charging capacity?

It is simple and visible, and Maharashtra's 2014 model uses it for parking. On its own it fails the "way back" test, because the earliest applicants keep their places while later buyers wait. Pair it with one allocation per flat, a release rule and an annual review, or draw lots for the first batch.

Can the committee take back my allocation if I rarely charge?

Only under a general-body rule made in advance that measures use from the sub-meter or session log, gives written notice and a hearing, and pauses the count for documented absence or repair. Release returns capacity without a fine, your hardware stays yours, and it never touches a point on your own DISCOM meter.

Can a resident pay extra for a 7.2 kW point when others are waiting?

Paying for hardware does not create headroom. On the illustration above, one 7.2 kW allocation displaces two 3.3 kW households, so a fair rule grants higher caps only when nobody is waiting, records them in base places, and reverses them when a queue returns. Funding a DISCOM load enhancement is a different offer.

Does the draw of lots in Maharashtra's draft bye-laws apply to EV charging?

Not directly. Draft bye-law 79(vii) names a draw of lots or rotation for oversubscribed parking, and the draft is not in force. It is a useful analogy, but it says nothing about kilowatts and would bind a society only once adopted and registered as its own bye-laws.