The Goa Electricity Department has rolled out a series of consumer-friendly reforms, including the correction of erroneous electricity bills, withdrawal of excess load penalties, automatic enhancement of sanctioned load, and a simplified process for new electricity connections.
Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar said the department has already corrected 7.5 lakh electricity bills and aims to complete the correction of all erroneous bills within the next year.
He said consumers who were wrongly charged excess load charges and penalties will receive relief, with the excess amounts collected being adjusted in their future electricity bills.
According to a public notice issued by the Office of the Chief Electrical Engineer, the government has withdrawn, as a one-time measure, excess demand and excess energy charges levied on Low Tension (LT) consumers for exceeding their sanctioned load from November 2025 onwards.
The department said electricity bills issued between November 2025 and June 23, 2026, will be regenerated. Consumers will be charged only for the electricity actually consumed under the applicable tariff, while all penal charges and delayed payment charges (DPC) related to excess demand will be removed.
To prevent similar issues in the future, the department has introduced an Automatic Enhancement of Sanctioned Load mechanism. Consumers who exceeded their sanctioned load will have it automatically enhanced to the highest demand recorded by their meter between November 2025 and June 2026. The auto-enhancement process will continue on a monthly basis until March 31, 2027.
Consumers whose enhanced sanctioned load remains within 5 kW (single-phase) or 10 kW (three-phase) will not be required to submit any application or documents, and their load will be deemed regularised for billing purposes. Those exceeding these limits will have to apply online within three months to regularise the enhanced load.
The department clarified that automatic load enhancement is only for billing regularisation and does not certify the safety of a consumer's electrical installation. Consumers will remain responsible for ensuring that their electrical systems are adequate for the enhanced load.
In another major reform under the Ease of Doing Business initiative, the Electricity Department has simplified the procedure for obtaining new single-phase LT electricity connections up to 5 kW.
With immediate effect, applicants will only need to submit proof of identity and proof of ownership or occupancy of the premises. The earlier requirement to furnish a wiring completion and test report from a licensed electrical contractor has been waived, along with the mandatory joint inspection by the concerned Junior Engineer.
