New Delhi, July 15 (KNN) Making efforts to slash down the time taken for getting an electricity connection, Power Ministry has taken several steps which will benefit citizens and industry alike.

The Government has made it mandatory to provide electricity connection within fifteen days to the consumers in normal conditions.

A simplified procedure for getting electricity connection has been adopted after detailed discussions with Delhi and Maharashtra Discoms and other concerned agencies.

DERC has made the necessary changes to allow LT connection up to 150 KVA and had also rationalized the tariff for the same in 2015.

Ministry has also stipulated time for each step required for providing the connection.

Within three days of online form submission for electricity connection, the field inspection of the site will be done, which will lead to the process to estimate preparation, load sanction and intimation for fee deposit to be completed in next four days. After this, installation work including meter and flow of electricity will be done in eight days, thus completing the whole process in 15 days.

While applying for connection, consumers in Delhi and Mumbai will be required to provide the self-certification for type of consumer along with ID proof and premises ownership.

An amendment to CEA notification have been made to waive off electrical approval for 11 KV installation carried out by Discoms and allowing self-certification by Discoms engineers in such cases.

It has been agreed by the Discoms that reliability of Power supply will be improved progressively each year till international benchmark are achieved.

An amendment in CEA notification for allowing installation of transformers up to 500 KVA on double pole structure has also been made.

Apart from these initiatives, a simplified online mechanism for Right of Way (RoW) approval process for electrical works is also under process. (With PIB Inputs)