If your flat's smart meter records demand above your sanctioned load in a month, as an EV charger running alongside evening appliances can, rule 5(5B) of the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, added in June 2023, says that month's bill "shall be calculated based on the actual recorded maximum demand", and you must be told by SMS or app. If it happens at least three times in a financial year, the lowest of those months' demand becomes your sanctioned load from the next financial year, automatically. The smart meter's readings cannot be used to penalise you for the period before it was fitted. This is not legal advice.
What changed in 2023: four rules for smart-metered homes
The Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 are central rules made by the Ministry of Power under section 176 of the Electricity Act, 2003. On 14 June 2023 the Ministry amended them by G.S.R. 437(E), the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2023, in force from publication (egazette.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026). It replaced sub-rule (5) of rule 5 with new sub-rules (5), (5A) and (5B), also written as rules 5A and 5B, and inserted rule 8A. What sanctioned load is, and how to find yours, is on sanctioned load and EV charging.
| Provision | What the text says | What it means for your charger |
|---|---|---|
| Rule 5(5) | Smart meters "shall be read remotely at least once in a day"; consumption data must be made available to you | Daily consumption and balance access is promised only on smart prepaid meters |
| Rule 5(5A) | No penalty based on the smart meter's recorded demand "for the period before the installation date" | Its readings cannot be used to backdate a penalty |
| Rule 5(5B) | A month above sanctioned load is billed on recorded demand; three or more such months in a financial year revise the load | A fast charger can raise one month's bill, then your load |
| Rule 8A | Time-of-day floors on the energy charge | Prices a unit by the hour, not by demand |
Two definitions in the 2020 text (G.S.R. 818(E), 31 December 2020; egazette.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026) do most of the work. "Maximum demand" means "the highest load measured in average kVA or kW at the point of supply of a consumer during any consecutive period of thirty minutes or as specified by the Commission, during the billing period". And "fixed charges" has "the same meaning as per the provisions of the prevailing Tariff Order", so the rupee figure per kW comes from your state commission, not from the central rules.
The half-hour window, unless your commission specifies another period, is why chargers matter. A charger is a long, steady draw, so thirty minutes of charging alongside a geyser can set the month's maximum demand, while a spike of a few minutes is averaged down: 10 kW for 5 minutes adds 10 × 5 ÷ 30 = about 1.7 kW to that half hour.
Billing on recorded maximum demand in a month you exceed
Rule 5(5B) reads: "In case maximum demand recorded by the smart meter exceeds the Sanctioned Load in a month, the bill, for that billing cycle, shall be calculated based on the actual recorded maximum demand and consumers shall be informed of this change in calculation through Short Message Service or mobile application".
Four points follow from the words:
- It works month by month. A month at or under the sanctioned figure is billed as before.
- You must be told. Keep every SMS or app notice; together they record which months counted.
- Recorded demand replaces sanctioned load for that month. On our reading, whatever your tariff order prices per kW of load is computed on the higher figure.
- It sets no penalty rate. The sub-rule names no multiplier. If your bill also shows an excess-demand or penal charge, that comes from your state's tariff order or supply code, not from rule 5(5B); ask the DISCOM in writing which provision it relies on.
Suppose your bill shows a fixed charge of ₹100 per kW per month (substitute the figure from your own bill or tariff order), your sanctioned load is 5 kW, and in June the smart meter records 8.2 kW.
- A normal month: 5 × ₹100 = ₹500
- June, billed on recorded demand: 8.2 × ₹100 = ₹820
- Extra for June: ₹820 − ₹500 = ₹320, before duty and before any state excess-demand charge
Check two things before you trust that sum. First, ask your DISCOM how it rounds a reading such as 8.2 kW, and whether your bill records demand in kW or kVA; if it is kVA, ask a licensed electrician to convert your charger's figure, because the two are not equal. Second, some domestic tariffs set the fixed charge per connection or by slab rather than per kW. If yours does, ask the DISCOM in writing which line of your bill rule 5(5B) changes; the lines themselves are explained on reading your electricity bill.
The three-exceedance rule and your revised sanctioned load
The proviso to rule 5(5B) turns repeated exceedance into a new sanctioned load: "in case of increase in recorded maximum demand, the lowest of the monthly maximum demand, where the recorded maximum demand has exceeded the sanctioned load limit atleast three times during a financial year, shall be considered as the revised Sanctioned Load, and the same shall be automatically reset from the billing cycle in next financial year".
Step by step:
- Count the months in one financial year, April to March, in which recorded demand went above your sanctioned load. Fewer than three means no revision.
- With three or more, take the lowest maximum demand among those months. We read "the lowest of the monthly maximum demand" as the lowest among the months that exceeded, the reading that fits a clause about an increase, but the text does not say so in terms. The text does not require the months to be consecutive. Your state's supply code may spell the method out.
- That figure becomes your sanctioned load, "automatically reset from the billing cycle in next financial year", with no application from you.
Suppose your 5 kW flat records 8.4 kW in June, 8.2 kW in July, 7.9 kW in October and 8.6 kW in January, and stays under 5 kW otherwise. Four exceedances; the lowest is 7.9 kW, so from the next financial year your sanctioned load would read 7.9 kW, or whatever your DISCOM rounds it to. With the ₹100 per kW you assumed above, the fixed charge goes from 5 × ₹100 = ₹500 to 7.9 × ₹100 = ₹790 a month, or (₹790 − ₹500) × 12 = ₹3,480 a year.
The ratchet can run again: next year, three months above 7.9 kW would lift it again. And only the upward step is automatic. Clause (b) says a reduction "shall be done in accordance with the Supply codes/ Standard Operating Procedures issued by the respective Regulatory Commission", so if you later cap the charger or sell the car, a lower load follows your state's procedure, which may require an application.
A higher sanctioned load on paper says nothing about whether your flat's wiring, main switch and meter can carry it. Have a licensed electrician check them, and ask the DISCOM whether a revised load brings a further deposit under your state's schedule.
No penalty on smart-meter readings for the period before installation
Rule 5(5A) is one sentence: "After the installation of smart meters, no penalty shall be imposed on the consumer, based on the maximum demand recorded by the smart meter, for the period before the installation date."
It blocks one move: using the new meter's readings to reach back. If your smart meter records 8 kW in its first month, that reading cannot be used to say you must have drawn 8 kW for the past two years and to levy a penalty for that period.
What it does not do:
- It does not cover months after installation; from the first billing cycle, rule 5(5B) applies in full.
- It gives no grace period for the first months on a new meter.
- On its words, it does not reach action on other grounds, such as an inspection; only penalties "based on the maximum demand recorded by the smart meter" are covered.
So if your smart meter is due, decide what the charger will draw before it arrives, not after the first exceedance message.
Worked cases: 3.3 kW and 7.2 kW chargers on 5 kW and 8 kW sanctions
Maximum demand is the charger plus everything else the flat draws in the same half hour. The charger's share is the lower of the wall unit's rating and what your car's on-board charger accepts, so check both manuals. For the rest of the flat, use your own figure: a licensed electrician can measure it, and your DISCOM's app may show recorded demand as well as the consumption data rule 5(5) requires. The cases below assume household loads of 2 kW in the evening and 0.8 kW after midnight only to show the arithmetic; replace them with yours.
| Case | Evening session (charger + 2 kW) | After midnight (charger + 0.8 kW) | Exceedance months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.3 kW charger, 5 kW sanction | 3.3 + 2 = 5.3 kW, over by 0.3 | 3.3 + 0.8 = 4.1 kW, under | Only months with an evening session |
| 7.2 kW charger, 5 kW sanction | 7.2 + 2 = 9.2 kW, over by 4.2 | 7.2 + 0.8 = 8.0 kW, over by 3.0 | Every month you charge at full rate |
| 3.3 kW charger, 8 kW sanction | 3.3 + 2 = 5.3 kW, under by 2.7 | 3.3 + 0.8 = 4.1 kW, under | None at these household figures |
| 7.2 kW charger, 8 kW sanction | 7.2 + 2 = 9.2 kW, over by 1.2 | 7.2 + 0.8 = 8.0 kW, equal, no margin | Evenings, and any night the flat draws more |
- 3.3 kW on 5 kW: the problem is timing, not size. Start sessions after the evening load falls and, at these figures, this flat stays under. One evening session makes that month an exceedance month.
- 7.2 kW on 5 kW: timing cannot fix it, because the charger alone is above the sanctioned load. By the third charging month in a financial year, the revision for the next one is set, and at these household figures no exceedance month records less than 8.0 kW. On a 5 kW single-phase connection this pairing may also trip the main switch or overload the circuit, a question for a licensed electrician before it is a billing one.
- 3.3 kW on 8 kW: comfortable here, but an evening load of 4.8 kW gives 3.3 + 4.8 = 8.1 kW, over the line.
Now the rupees, on the ₹100 per kW you assumed (substitute yours). For 7.2 kW on 5 kW charged only after midnight, each charging month is billed on 8.0 kW: 8.0 × ₹100 = ₹800 against ₹500, an extra ₹300. After the revision that ₹300 is the difference every month, ₹300 × 12 = ₹3,600 a year. Whether the faster charger is worth it depends on your driving, which 3.3 kW versus 7.2 kW charging works through.
Your options: cap the charger, apply for enhancement, or accept revision
Each route can be costed with one number from your own bill: your fixed charge per kW per month, written F below. S is your sanctioned load, E a load you might apply for, M the demand a charging month records, and R the revised load the three-exceedance rule would set.
| Route | Extra fixed charges | One-off cost | What you give up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cap the charger so charger plus household stays at or under S | None: S × F as now | Setting the limit, if your unit supports one | Charging speed |
| Apply for enhancement to E before charging | (E − S) × F × 12 a year | Your DISCOM's application and any meter or service-line work, from its schedule | You pay for headroom every month, used or not |
| Accept demand billing and the revision | (M − S) × F in each exceedance month; then (R − S) × F × 12 a year | No application; ask whether your state's schedule adds a deposit | You do not choose R, and it comes down only under your state's procedure |
Suppose F is ₹100 and S is 5 kW, with the 7.2 kW charger used after midnight, which records 8.0 kW with the household figure above (substitute your own):
- Cap at 3.3 kW: 3.3 + 0.8 = 4.1 kW, so fixed charges are unchanged. A top-up drawing 30 kWh from the wall takes 30 ÷ 3.3 = about 9.1 hours instead of 30 ÷ 7.2 = about 4.2 hours.
- Enhance to 9 kW, a 1 kW margin over the night figure: (9 − 5) × ₹100 × 12 = ₹4,800 a year, plus the one-off amounts on your DISCOM's schedule. An evening session at 9.2 kW would still exceed 9 kW.
- Accept revision at 8.0 kW: (8.0 − 5) × ₹100 × 12 = ₹3,600 a year from the next financial year, plus (8.0 − 5) × ₹100 = ₹300 for each exceedance month before that.
On these assumed numbers, revision costs less in fixed charges than a generous enhancement. Enhancement buys a margin you chose, applied for before the work, with a paper trail. Revision hands you a figure set by your lowest exceedance month, which may leave no margin above your real peak, so next year can ratchet again. Capping costs only time, which suits you if a night at the lower power covers your driving. Application steps are on the load enhancement process.
Whether your unit can be limited is covered on smart charger features for apartments, and sharing capacity between chargers on load management. Any current limit, new circuit or protective device must be specified and certified by a licensed electrician.
Time-of-day billing under rule 8A: the statutory floors
Rule 8A, inserted by the same amendment, prices a unit by the hour. It set dates of "not later than 1st April, 2024" for commercial and industrial consumers above 10 kW and "not later than 1st April, 2025" for other consumers except agricultural ones, and added that "a Time of Day tariff shall be made effective immediately after installation of smart meters, for the consumers with smart meters". Its provisos set the floors:
- Peak: for consumers other than commercial and industrial, "it shall not be less than 1.10 times the normal tariff".
- Solar hours: the rate "shall be atleast twenty percent less than the normal tariff for that category of consumers".
- Scope: it "shall be applicable on energy charge component of the normal tariff".
- Length: "the duration of peak hours shall not be more than solar hours", and "solar hours" means "the duration of eight hours in a day as specified by the State Commission".
As arithmetic on your own bill: suppose your normal energy charge is ₹8 a unit (substitute yours). The peak rate can be no lower than 8 × 1.10 = ₹8.80, and the solar-hours rate no higher than 8 × 0.80 = ₹6.40. Those are the only two price bounds. The rule fixes no night rate: outside the peak and solar windows, the rate is whatever your commission's tariff order sets, possibly the normal rate. And because rule 8A touches only the energy charge, it leaves billing on recorded demand under rule 5(5B) untouched.
The dates are under review. With a letter of 12 March 2026 the Ministry circulated the draft Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2026, which would substitute rule 8A: commercial and industrial consumers above 10 kW "no later than 1st April, 2027", other non-agricultural consumers "from the date specified by the State Commission, but no later than 1st April, 2028", the same floors, and no sentence tying time-of-day to smart-meter installation. Comments were due by 11 April 2026; the draft says it would come into force on 1 October 2026 (powermin.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026). It is a draft. The Ministry's document list, checked on 16 October 2026, showed no notified version, so we treat the 2023 text as in force; check the Gazette for anything later. The draft does not touch rules 5(5A) or 5(5B).
Whether your own bill is cheaper at night has its own page: does charging at night save money.
Prepaid smart meters: daily data, balance and cut-offs
In prepaid mode, two more provisions apply. Rule 5(5), as substituted in 2023, says "consumers having smart pre-payment meters shall also be given the data access for checking their consumption and balance amount atleast on daily basis". Rule 9(3) of the 2020 text says "Pre-payment meters will be designed to automatically cut off supply when the amount credited is exhausted. This shall however not be treated as a disconnection and the supply will be resumed whenever the meter is recharged."
For an EV owner that means:
- the cut-off is for the whole connection: if the charger is on the flat's meter and the balance runs out at 2 am, the refrigerator stops with the car, and rule 9(3) itself gives no grace credit or hours, so ask your DISCOM whether your state's rules add any;
- a charging night drains the balance faster than an ordinary night, so check it on charging days;
- supply returns on recharge, so keep a payment route that works late at night.
Size the buffer on your own numbers. Suppose a session puts 30 units into the battery, 0.9 of what the wall supplies reaches the battery, so the wall supplies 30 ÷ 0.9 = about 33 units, and your all-in rate is ₹9 a unit (substitute your own figures). One session is 33 × ₹9 = ₹297; four a week is 4 × ₹297 = ₹1,188, on top of the household's own draw. Ask your DISCOM when fixed and demand-based amounts are deducted from a prepaid balance, because an exceedance month's higher figure would come out of the same balance. Rule 6(4) of the 2020 text says that with pre-payment metering the DISCOM "shall issue the bill, to the consumer, on his or her request"; ask for it after any exceedance message to see the demand figure used.
A separate EV connection comes with a pre-payment meter too
Rule 4(15), inserted by G.S.R. 125(E) of 22 February 2024 (egazette.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026), says that on the request of an association, a flat owner "or any other consumer", "the distribution licensee shall provide a separate connection for supply of electricity for Electric Vehicle charging system". Rule 5(1) of the 2020 text says "No connection shall be given without a meter and such meter shall be the smart pre-payment meter or pre-payment meter", with any exception to be "duly approved by the Commission". So unless your commission has approved an exception, a separate EV connection gets a pre-payment meter and its own sanctioned load; where that meter is smart, rule 5(5B) applies to it as to your flat's meter, and rule 9(3)'s cut-off applies to any pre-payment meter. Size its sanctioned load to the charger you will actually run. Choosing between your flat's meter and a separate connection is covered on own meter, sub-meter or common meter.
Finding your state's implementing regulation
The central rules set the frame, but your bill is computed under your state commission's supply code and tariff order. The Ministry has told commissions to align with the rules: the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission's explanatory memorandum on its Supply Code (First Amendment) Regulations, 2024, dated May 2024, quotes the Ministry's letter of 13 September 2022 that "In case of any conflict between the Rules and the Regulations, the Rules shall prevail" (merc.gov.in; last verified 16 October 2026). That is the Ministry's stated position, not a decision on anyone's bill.
The same memorandum shows why the state text still matters. It says the 2023 pre-paid meter provisions "have been incorporated" in the amendment and that the time-of-day mechanism is "addressed by the Commission through Tariff Orders", and it does not discuss rules 5(5A) or 5(5B) at all. We have not compared it with the regulation as finally notified. In any state, gather these before you decide:
- Your commission's current supply code and amendments; search them for "maximum demand", "sanctioned load" and "smart meter".
- Your current tariff order: the fixed charge per kW (your F), any excess-demand charge, and the time-of-day schedule for your category.
- A written answer from your DISCOM: how a month above sanctioned load is billed, how readings are rounded, and how a revised load is notified.
- Your own data: the consumption data rule 5(5) requires, any demand figures your DISCOM's app shows, and every notice under rule 5(5B).
If a bill does not match the rules or your state's code, raise it with the DISCOM in writing first; a disputed bill can then go to its consumer grievance forum. Nothing here is legal advice, and how a conflict between a state code and the central rules is resolved for a particular bill is for the DISCOM, the forum or the Ombudsman to decide.
Common questions
My bill went up after the smart meter was fitted, but I added nothing new. Why?
Look for an SMS or app notice under rule 5(5B): a charger that always pushed you over may only now be showing up as months billed on recorded demand. Compare units as well as the amount, since more units can also move you up a slab. Rule 5(5A) protects only the period before installation.
Does charging only at night stop my sanctioned load being revised?
Only if the charger plus the flat's night load stays at or under your sanctioned load in every half hour. A 3.3 kW charger on 5 kW manages that only if the rest of the flat stays at or under 5 − 3.3 = 1.7 kW; a 7.2 kW charger on 5 kW cannot, because the charger alone exceeds the limit.
Can the DISCOM raise my sanctioned load without an application from me?
Yes, under clause (a) of the proviso to rule 5(5B). If recorded demand exceeds sanctioned load at least three times in a financial year, the lowest monthly maximum demand (on our reading, among the months that exceeded) becomes the revised load, "automatically reset" from the next financial year. A reduction follows your state's supply code or procedure.
What happens if my prepaid balance runs out mid-session?
Rule 9(3) says pre-payment meters "automatically cut off supply" when the credit is exhausted, so everything on that meter goes off. It "shall however not be treated as a disconnection", and supply resumes when you recharge.
Is a time-of-day rate already on my smart-metered bill?
The 2023 text of rule 8A says a time-of-day tariff "shall be made effective immediately after installation of smart meters", but the rate you pay is set in your commission's tariff order, so check that for your category. A draft circulated in March 2026 would allow a date up to 1 April 2028 for consumers other than agricultural ones and commercial and industrial consumers above 10 kW; it was not notified when we checked on 16 October 2026.
Does rule 5(5A) mean my first months on a smart meter are penalty-free?
No. It bars penalties on the smart meter's readings for the period before installation. Every billing cycle after installation falls under rule 5(5B).