EV charging in a single-point supply society: no-profit-no-loss billing, a separate EV connection, or the ballot

If your society takes electricity through one DISCOM connection and bills each flat itself, you are on single-point supply, and your EV charging can be paid for in three legally different ways. Through the association's own meter, rule 4(14) of the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, inserted on 22 February 2024, requires your individual units to be billed on a "no-profit-no-loss basis", with backup units metered separately. Rule 4(15) obliges the DISCOM to give you a separate EV connection on request. And rule 4(14)(a) lets owners move the whole society to individual connections through a ballot the DISCOM holds. This is not legal advice.

How to tell whether your society is on single-point supply

On single-point supply the DISCOM bills one consumer for everything the complex draws, and the association meters and bills each flat. Rule 4(14)(c) says so: "In the case of a single point connection, the Association shall be responsible for metering, billing, and collection and for individual connections, these responsibilities shall vest with the distribution licensee." So the quickest test is who sends you the bill.

If you are still unsure, ask the treasurer in writing for the society's latest DISCOM bill: one bill and one consumer number for the whole complex settles it. Keep that bill, because every calculation below starts from it. A sub-meter behind your own DISCOM-billed connection, as compared in own meter, sub-meter or common meter, is not single-point supply.

What the 2024 amendment changed for associations

The Ministry of Power notified the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2024 as G.S.R. 125(E) on 22 February 2024, under section 176 of the Electricity Act, 2003, in force from publication (egazette.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026). It amended the principal rules, G.S.R. 818(E) of 31 December 2020 (egazette.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026), and inserted four things a single-point resident needs:

• The association. Rule 2(1)(mc) defines a "Resident Welfare Association", called "the Association", as "an association comprising all the property owners within a Co-operative Group Housing Society, Multi storied Building, Residential Colony, or a similar body registered with the State Government."
• The owner. Rule 2(1)(ka): "the person who is having absolute right over the property", including legal heirs. This decides who votes in the ballot.
• Rule 4(14), applying "Within the area covered under an Association": the ballot in (a), separate metering in (b), who bills in (c), price limits in (d).
• Rule 4(15), a separate connection for an "Electric Vehicle charging system".

The text leaves two questions open: whether rule 4(14) reaches a complex where the developer, or an agency it appointed, still holds the connection (the definition mentions only owners), and how it sits beside a state commission's own single-point regulations, which in Delhi predate it. We found no notified amendment to rule 4(14) or 4(15) after February 2024. The Ministry's draft Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2026, circulated by letter of 12 March 2026 for comments by 11 April 2026 and proposed to come into force on 1 October 2026 (powermin.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026), records G.S.R. 125(E) as the last amendment and does not touch rules 2(1)(mc), 4(14), 4(15) or 9(3). It would rewrite rule 4(11), the deadline rule that rule 4(15) borrows. It is a draft, not law; check the Gazette for a notified version.

Route 1: charging through the association's sub-meter

The default route is to charge from your flat's own supply, which is the association's sub-meter, or from a point the association meters in your name. Rule 4(14)(b) requires that "the metering, billing, and collection shall be done separately for" three streams:

1. "individual electricity consumption sourced from the distribution licensee";
2. "individual consumption of back up power supplied by the Association"; and
3. "electricity consumption for common area of such Association sourced from the distribution licensee".

A point in your slot fed from your flat's sub-meter, or from its own sub-meter in your name, draws individual consumption: the first stream, or the second during a power cut. Rule 4(14)(d) then sets four limits "In the case of a single point connection":

• (i) "the charges deducted through pre-payment meters or bills raised by the Association for individual electricity consumption shall be on no-profit-no-loss basis";
• (ii) "the distribution licensee's tariff for single point connection to Associations shall not exceed the average billing rate for low tension domestic category";
• (iii) "the total billing done by Association for the electricity supplied by the distribution licensee shall not exceed the overall tariff paid to the distribution licensee";
• (iv) "an additional amount as prescribed by the Appropriate Commission may be charged towards the sub-distribution network cost incurred for providing electricity up to the premises of the individual consumer."

Read together, the association passes its DISCOM cost through and does not earn on your units. The one addition provided for is an amount the commission has prescribed; where no order prescribes one, the text supplies no other. A shared society charger is harder: rule 4(14)(b) does not say whether its units are individual or common-area consumption, and we do not settle that here. Its price and the Ministry of Power's service-charge ceiling are on is your society's EV charging rate within the ceiling.

Your point's power still arrives through the society's one connection, so the committee needs to weigh the added load against the complex's sanctioned load (sanctioned load explained). The cable, protective devices and earthing must be specified and certified by a licensed electrician, and the association's electrician should see the plan, since the internal network is the association's. The Ministry of Power's Guidelines for Installation and Operation of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure-2024, dated 17 September 2024, say in clause 16(5) that "The Distribution Licensee will ensure electricity supply through the resident's existing meter or a separate sub-meter depending on consumer's choice" (beeindia.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026), without addressing single-point supply, where your existing meter is the association's. The guidelines are read clause by clause in the Ministry of Power guidelines for housing societies.

Backing out your society's no-profit-no-loss rate from its DISCOM bill

Test "no-profit-no-loss" against two documents, the society's DISCOM bill and your own statement, not against a rate someone quotes. Rule 4(14) does not say how the association must spread fixed or demand charges, cable losses or common-area units, so the answer is a reason to ask, not proof of overcharging.

Row (5) matters because rule 4(14)(d)(iii) caps the total, not the unit price. If 3,000 of the 60,000 units never reach a sub-meter, lost in the society's own cables or drawn by loads nobody meters, the bill can be spread only over the 57,000 units billed, and the unit price rises without anyone profiting. Whether recovering lost units is within "no-profit-no-loss" the rule does not say; but under the cap, the most the association can bill for DISCOM electricity is row (2), plus any amount prescribed under rule 4(14)(d)(iv).

On these assumptions ₹2.03 a unit is unexplained. Put three questions to the treasurer in writing:

• Is there a prescribed sub-distribution amount? Ask for the commission order, clause and figure. Without one, rule 4(14)(d)(iv) gives the association nothing extra.
• Are backup units folded into the grid rate? Rule 4(14)(b)(ii) keeps them separate; the next section shows the check.
• Are fixed charges recovered unevenly? If they go into the unit rate some months and a flat deduction in others, compare a year of statements, not one month.

Then run the society-level check, which is what rule 4(14)(d)(iii) caps: add everything the association billed or deducted for DISCOM electricity in the month, from every flat and the common-area account, and compare it with row (2). Suppose the total billed came to ₹5,58,000: ₹5,58,000 − ₹5,40,000 = ₹18,000 above the bill, which, unless the two billing periods differ, only a prescribed amount could cover; ask for the order, or for a credit. The billing-disputes route covers what to do with the reply, and reading an electricity bill explains the lines on the society's bill. Rule 4(14)(d)(ii) is about the DISCOM's tariff, not the association's billing: if row (3) looks high, ask the DISCOM in writing which tariff the society is billed under and what it takes as the average billing rate for the low tension domestic category, the ceiling rule 4(14)(d)(ii) sets.

Backup units: why DG charging must be metered separately

A car charging during a power cut from a point on the society's backup circuit draws association-supplied backup, and rule 4(14)(b)(ii) requires "individual consumption of back up power supplied by the Association" to be metered, billed and collected separately from grid units. What the generator does to a charging session is on EV charging and DG backup; this section is only about the bill.

The price rules are less clear here. Rule 4(14)(d)(i) applies no-profit-no-loss to "individual electricity consumption", without the words "sourced from the distribution licensee" used in rule 4(14)(b)(i), so it may or may not reach backup, and the rule does not settle which. The total-billing cap in rule 4(14)(d)(iii) covers only "the electricity supplied by the distribution licensee", so it does not cap backup.

Split a month yourself. Suppose your flat and car used 140 units, 20 of them during cuts, with grid units at ₹11.50 and backup units at ₹28 on your statement; substitute your own:

• Grid: 120 × ₹11.50 = ₹1,380
• Backup: 20 × ₹28 = ₹560
• Total: ₹1,380 + ₹560 = ₹1,940, or ₹1,940 ÷ 140 = ₹13.86 a unit if shown as one line

A blended ₹13.86 would look like a grid overcharge while hiding what backup costs you, so ask for the split. If the backup rate itself looks high, the DG page derives a cost per unit from the society's fuel log and invoices; ask the committee how its rate was fixed.

Prepaid deductions and sizing a recharge for an EV

Rule 4(14)(d)(i) applies the same no-profit-no-loss test to "the charges deducted through pre-payment meters" as to bills, so the two-document method works on a deduction history too. Two different provisions numbered 9(3) get quoted in these conversations; keep them apart:

DISCOM prepaid smart meters, with their daily balance data and cut-offs, are covered on smart meters and EV charging; this section covers only the association's deductions. Whatever the legal label, a cut-off ends a charging session like a power cut, so size the recharge to stay clear of it, using your odometer, your car's display and your statement:

1. Car units a month = kilometres ÷ km per kWh ÷ 0.9, an assumed allowance for charging losses. Suppose 900 km at 6.5 km/kWh: 900 ÷ 6.5 = 138.5, and 138.5 ÷ 0.9 = 153.8 units.
2. Car cost = car units × your grid rate. 153.8 × ₹11.50 = ₹1,769.
3. Household cost before the car, from your statements. Suppose ₹2,875.
4. Fixed deductions, if your association makes any. Suppose ₹300 a month.
5. Monthly total = ₹1,769 + ₹2,875 + ₹300 = ₹4,944, or ₹4,944 ÷ 30 = about ₹165 a day.

Size the buffer for the biggest night, not the average day. Suppose your car takes 32 kWh from low to full: 32 ÷ 0.9 = 35.6 units, and 35.6 × ₹11.50 = about ₹409, on top of the household's ₹2,875 ÷ 30 = about ₹96 a day. Keep the balance above ₹409 + ₹96 = ₹505 before a full charge, and recharge on a fixed day rather than at the low-balance alert. Charging during cuts adds backup units at the backup rate. The monthly cost method explains the 0.9 and how to replace it with a figure you measure.

Route 2: a separate EV connection from the DISCOM

Rule 4(15) reads: "On the request of an Association or an owner of the flat or house in an Association or any other consumer, the distribution licensee shall provide a separate connection for supply of electricity for Electric Vehicle charging system". Its Explanation ties the timeline to rule 4(11), under which your state commission sets the period within a central ceiling of three days in metropolitan areas, seven in other municipal areas and fifteen in rural areas; what to do when the DISCOM misses it is on when the DISCOM delays an EV connection. The Ministry of Power's guidelines, clause 16(1), name "any other consumer within a GHS" and "a dedicated EV charging tariff".

The point for a single-point resident is who bills. A rule 4(15) connection is the DISCOM's, metered and billed by the DISCOM; rule 4(14)(c) gives the association the billing role only "In the case of a single point connection", so on our reading its unit rate and deductions should not touch these units. No order we have read says so in terms.

What rule 4(15) does not settle is the route. The duty falls on the DISCOM and the rule is silent on the society, yet the meter and cable must cross ground the association controls; whether a society may refuse is unsettled (what is actually settled). Ask your DISCOM in writing whether your commission's tariff order has an EV category for a connection inside a residential complex. Then cost it from documents:

On those assumptions, the same 150 units on the association's sub-meter would cost 150 × ₹11.50 = ₹1,725, so the separate connection is ₹1,725 − ₹1,200 = ₹525 a month cheaper. Whether ₹525 a month repays ₹44,000 − ₹3,000 = ₹41,000 of non-refundable outlay within your stay is a break-even question, set out on own charging point or the society charger; feed it these figures. The connection point, cable, earthing and protective devices must be specified and certified by a licensed electrician after a site assessment.

Route 3: the ballot for individual connections

Rule 4(14)(a) reads: "The distribution licensee shall provide either a single point connection for the Association or individual connections for each and every owner, on the basis of choice of the majority of the house or flat owners in such Association and the choice shall be ascertained by means of a transparent ballot to be held by the distribution licensee; Provided that if more than fifty percent of the owners prefer individual connection then individual connection shall be given to each owner." Four things follow from the words:

• The DISCOM holds the ballot. A petition circulated in the society shows demand; it is not the ballot.
• Owners vote, not occupants. Rule 2(1)(ka) defines an owner by "absolute right over the property"; a tenant is not one.
• It is all or nothing. The choice is one connection for the association "or individual connections for each and every owner"; the text does not provide for converting only the flats that want it.
• The threshold is "more than fifty percent of the owners". Suppose 240 owners: 240 ÷ 2 = 120, so at least 121 must prefer individual connections.

Much is left out: who may ask for a ballot, what notice is given, whether fifty percent means of all owners or of those voting, how a jointly owned flat votes, who pays to bring the internal network up to the DISCOM's standard, what happens to deposits the association holds, and whether association backup continues. The denominator alone can decide the result. Suppose 150 of 240 owners vote and 90 prefer individual connections: 90 ÷ 150 = 60% of votes cast, but 90 ÷ 240 = 37.5% of owners. Ask which reading your DISCOM applies before the vote.

1. Ask the association in writing for the number of owners, not flats, as its records show them.
2. Write to the DISCOM citing rule 4(14)(a), asking it to hold a ballot and to state in writing its procedure, the denominator, its timeline and the commission regulation that sets conversion terms and charges.
3. Get the cost answers before anyone votes: each owner's meter, deposit and network share, and what happens to backup and the common-area connection.
4. Put the answers before the general body so owners vote on facts (putting it on the AGM agenda).
5. After a conversion, EV charging moves to each owner's DISCOM meter or a rule 4(15) connection, and existing EV points on the association's network need re-planning by a licensed electrician.

Where state regulations sit on top

Rule 4(14) hands the sub-distribution amount to "the Appropriate Commission", and conversion procedure, charges and network handover, where a state has set them, sit in its supply code. How a central rule and a state regulation fit together where they differ is unsettled, and we do not resolve it. Two examples show why your own state's text matters:

• Delhi. Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (Supply Code and Performance Standards) Regulations, 2017, in force from 1 September 2017, regulations 12 to 15 as originally notified (derc.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026). Regulation 13(3) converts the complete society where members opting for direct supply are "2/3rd or more of the total number of members of the society" after a joint survey; regulation 13(4) allows partial conversion below that, which the national rule's wording does not. The Commission's Supply Code regulations page, checked on 16 October 2026, lists four amendments, of 2018 and 2019, and none touches regulations 12 to 15.
• Punjab. PSERC (Electricity Supply Code, Standards of Performance and Related Matters) Regulations, 2024, notified 23 October 2024, in force from 14 November 2024: regulation 13(1) governs single-point supply and names an Association "as per Rule 4(14)", regulation 14(2) covers conversion by ballot, and regulation 69(2) repealed Punjab's 2008 single-point regulations (pserc.punjab.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026).
• Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Not summarised here; if you live in either, read your state commission's own texts before acting on this page.

Elsewhere, search your commission's supply code for "single point" and ask your DISCOM in writing which provision applies and whether it has been amended.

Decision table and cost worksheet

Then run the worksheet on your own documents:

1. Uniform no-profit rate = DISCOM bill total ÷ units the association billed onward.
2. Gap = your grid deductions ÷ your grid units − line 1.
3. Car units a month = kilometres ÷ km per kWh ÷ 0.9.
4. Route 1 monthly = car units × your grid rate, plus any backup units × backup rate.
5. Route 2 monthly = fixed charge + car units × energy rate; one-time = schedule of charges + installer's quote.
6. Take line 4 − line 5, with the non-refundable one-time cost, to the break-even page.

The monthly charging cost calculator runs line 3 for you; line 1 needs the society's DISCOM bill, so ask the treasurer for it first.

Common questions

Can my society charge me more per unit than it pays the DISCOM?

On a single point connection, rule 4(14)(d) requires its bills or prepaid deductions for your units to be "on no-profit-no-loss basis", and its total billing for DISCOM electricity cannot exceed what it paid the DISCOM, plus any sub-distribution amount your commission has prescribed. A unit rate above the bill's average can stay within the total cap if it spreads units lost inside the complex, though whether that is no-profit-no-loss the rule does not say, so run the two-document check before you complain.

Can the society stop me getting a separate EV connection?

Rule 4(15) obliges the DISCOM to provide one on request and says nothing about the society. Because the meter and cable sit on common property, you need the committee's cooperation on the route, and whether it may refuse is unsettled. Put the request in writing with the route drawn (how to request permission).

Is DG backup used for my car covered by no-profit-no-loss?

The rule does not settle it. Rule 4(14)(b)(ii) requires backup units to be metered, billed and collected separately, but the no-profit-no-loss words may or may not reach them, and the total-billing cap covers only DISCOM electricity.

My prepaid balance ran out mid-charge. Is that a disconnection?

Rule 9(3) of the principal rules says a pre-payment cut-off when credit is exhausted "shall however not be treated as a disconnection", and supply resumes on recharge. It sits in the rule on DISCOM disconnection, and whether it governs an association's meter the rules do not say. Size your recharge so a full night's charge never reaches the cut-off.

Do tenants vote in the ballot for individual connections?

Rule 4(14)(a) counts owners, and rule 2(1)(ka) defines an owner as the person "having absolute right over the property", including legal heirs. A tenant is not an owner on that definition, so a tenant who wants conversion has to ask the landlord to vote.