How to file a power cut complaint that actually gets fixed

When the power goes, most households either wait, assuming someone has already called, or call, hear a recorded message that the fault is known, and hang up. Neither creates a record, and without one nothing else follows: no lineman sent to your pole, no deadline running against the discom, no compensation, and no case to take further if the cut drags on.

A complaint that works has three parts. It goes in through a channel that logs it. It carries enough detail for a crew to find the fault without calling you back. And it ends with a complaint number written down where you will find it again. This guide covers each, then what to do when the system fails you anyway.

Before you call: four things to have in front of you

Call centre agents start by finding your connection. Having the answers ready saves minutes on a line that may have taken twenty to get through.

1. Your consumer number. Every discom has one and every discom calls it something different. Delhi's supply code calls it the CA number. MSEDCL's SMS complaint service asks for a 12-digit consumer number, KSEB's 1912 line for a 13-digit one, and BESCOM asks for the RR or account number. It is printed near the top of your bill. Photograph a bill now and keep the photo on your phone, because in a blackout you will not want to go looking for paper.
2. The mobile number registered with the discom. Several discoms identify you by it, so calling from that phone can skip a step. MSEDCL runs a missed-call number for power failures that only works from a registered mobile.
3. Where the fault is, in terms a lineman can use. Your address is how the call centre finds your account. It is not how a crew finds a fault. If a pole or transformer near you has a number painted on it, note it down in daylight before you need it. Otherwise give a landmark the crew will know: the transformer behind the temple, the pole outside the school gate.
4. What you can actually see. Is it only your house, your building, or the whole lane? Did you hear a bang or see a spark? Is a wire down? Only your house usually means your meter, service cable or fuse. A whole lane means the transformer or the line. A snapped wire on the ground is an emergency, so say that first and keep everyone away from it.

Which number to call: 1912, and where it isn't the answer

1912 is a short code set aside for electricity complaints. The Ministry of Power describes it as allotted to electricity call centres for power supply complaints. Puducherry's electricity department is a typical example: it asks consumers to use 1912, or the toll-free 1800-425-1912, to register a fuse-off call or any other complaint.

It is not universal, though, and it is worth knowing before a blackout whether yours is one of the exceptions. Of the 70 discoms in our directory, 42 list 1912 among their complaint numbers. Delhi's three private discoms use their own five-digit lines (19122, 19123, 19124). So do Mumbai's Adani Electricity and Tata Power, and WBSEDCL in West Bengal. Tamil Nadu's TNPDCL publishes a mobile number, not 1912. Where a discom does use 1912, it often also runs a toll-free 1800 line that is worth trying when 1912 is engaged.

The table below covers the discoms serving India's twenty largest cities, drawn from the same verified directory as the rest of the site, where every number was read from the discom's own website, app listing or official account. A blank means we could not confirm that channel from an official source, not that it does not exist.

If your discom is not in the table, the full list with escalation contacts is in the discom directory.

The complaint number is the whole point

If you take one thing from this guide, take this: a complaint without a number did not happen. The number is what you quote when you call back, what you put in an email to the sub-division, what a grievance forum will ask for first, and in some states what starts the clock on compensation.

Delhi's supply code is the clearest about this, and worth knowing wherever you live because it shows what a good rule looks like. A unique complaint number must be generated and given to you as soon as you complain (regulation 69). If the call centre already knows why your area is dark, it must tell you the reason and an approximate restoration time, and still register your complaint and issue a number (regulation 70). And since a 2018 amendment, compensation for a cut is counted from the first complaint made by any affected consumer (regulation 76). Until someone complains, the delay does not count.

Maharashtra puts it in its grievance regulations instead. MSEDCL's internal complaint system must resolve complaints about no supply within three working days of registration, and other complaints within fifteen. Either way, the deadline is counted from the day the complaint was registered.

Nationally, the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 require every discom to run a centralised 24x7 toll-free call centre, and to work towards a complaint system that sends SMS and email updates, lets you track status online, and escalates automatically to a higher level when a service is not delivered on time (rule 14). The same rules say that for an unplanned outage, you should get an immediate SMS or other electronic message with an estimated restoration time (rule 16). Discoms vary a lot in how far they have got with this. The number is your proof either way.

Write down four things: the complaint number, the date and time you registered it, the restoration time you were told, and the time the power actually came back. That is everything a compensation claim needs. The state-by-state deadlines and amounts are on our page on power cut compensation.

Apps, WhatsApp and X

A phone call is not the only way in, and on a bad evening it may be the slowest. The 2020 rules require discoms to let you see the status of your complaints on their website, web portal and mobile app (rule 16). An app complaint gives you the number on screen, where you can screenshot it, and you can track it without calling back.

WhatsApp numbers, where a discom has one, usually go to the same complaint system. Send your consumer number, the problem and the landmark in your first message, and do not end the chat without a complaint number.

X works differently. A public post is on the record and is read by the discom's social media team and often by senior officers, which is why it sometimes moves a complaint the phone line could not. Two cautions. Keep your consumer or account number out of the public post; if the discom needs it, it will ask for a direct message, as BESCOM's own account asks consumers to send their RR or account number. And a reply on X is not a complaint number: if they register one for you, ask for it.

When the line is busy

In a storm or a heatwave, thousands of people call the same centre about the same feeder in the same hour, and the line stays engaged. What to do, in order:

1. Switch channels, not just numbers. Try the app, WhatsApp, SMS or the website complaint form. MSEDCL, for one, takes a power-failure complaint by SMS: NOPOWER, then your 12-digit consumer number, sent to 9930399303. A text gets through when a voice line will not.
2. Keep the evidence that you tried. A screenshot of your call log with the times visible costs nothing. If the discom later says nobody complained, it is your answer.
3. Coordinate with your neighbours. In Delhi, the first complaint from anyone affected starts the clock for everyone, so the most useful thing a society or colony WhatsApp group can do is make sure somebody gets through, then share the complaint number with the group. Elsewhere it still helps: one person with a number can follow up for everyone.
4. Check first whether the cut was planned. A scheduled shutdown for maintenance is announced in advance, and calling about it wastes a turn in the queue.

Reading the shutdown notice is quicker than holding on the line: how to find your area's power shutdown schedule.

When the complaint is closed but the power is not back

It happens often enough to plan for. A crew fixes one fault on the feeder, tickets are closed in bulk, and your lane, on a different transformer, stays dark. Or the complaint is marked resolved because the line is live again, while your own fuse is still blown.

Call back straight away and quote the old number. Ask for it to be reopened, or if the system will not do that, for a new complaint that notes the old number. Say plainly what is still wrong: still no supply, supply on one phase only, or very low voltage. Delhi's rules require a confirmation message with the restoration date and time once supply is restored (regulation 70, as amended in 2018), so a closure message that arrives while you are still in the dark is itself evidence. Screenshot it.

If a second complaint goes the same way, put it in writing. An email to the discom's customer care address, or to the sub-division or assistant engineer's office, quoting both complaint numbers and the times, gives you a dated document instead of another phone call. Many discoms list their first escalation level, usually the local sub-division office, on their pages in our directory.

Low voltage that the discom calls normal is a related problem with its own evidence and its own deadlines. Our guide on low voltage explains how to log readings that a discom cannot wave away.

Escalation: the grievance forum, then the Ombudsman

If the discom will not fix the problem or will not pay what it owes, the law gives you two levels above it, both meant for consumers to approach directly. They come from section 42 of the Electricity Act, 2003. Every discom must set up a forum for redressal of consumer grievances (section 42(5)), widely known as the CGRF. A consumer whose grievance is not redressed there can go to the Electricity Ombudsman, appointed or designated by the state regulator (section 42(6)), who must settle it within the time and in the manner the regulator specifies (section 42(7)).

The 2020 Rights of Consumers Rules fill in the shape (rule 15). Forums can sit at sub-division, division, circle, zone and company level. Each is headed by a discom officer, can have up to four consumer and prosumer representatives, and must have one independent member nominated by the regulator. A grievance should normally be decided within thirty days, and never later than forty-five. If a lower-level forum rules against you, you can go to the company-level forum before appealing to the Ombudsman. And the discom must publicise the forum's address and procedure, including on your electricity bill.

The detailed procedure is set state by state. Maharashtra's regulations are a useful example of what to expect. You can file in person, by post, by email or on a web portal, and you get an acknowledgement with a serial number. A grievance about no supply has to be decided within fifteen working days. A grievance must be filed within two years of the cause arising. You can appear yourself, or send a representative who is not an advocate. If the forum's order does not resolve it, you have sixty days to go to the Ombudsman.

Whatever your state, the forum will ask what you have already done, and that is where the numbers, times, screenshots and emails count. “The power is always going” is hard to rule on. Five complaint numbers in three weeks for the same transformer, two closed without a fix, is easy.

Two more points from the Act are worth knowing. When a discom fails a standard of performance, the regulator sets the compensation and the discom must pay it within ninety days of that determination (section 57). And the forum and the Ombudsman are “without prejudice” to any other right you have (section 42(8)), so going to them does not stop you going to a consumer court, which is usually the route for real losses such as a burnt appliance. Our guide to claiming compensation for appliance damage covers that route.

What Power Watch is for, and what it is not

Reporting a cut on Power Watch does not reach the discom's complaint system. Only the discom can send a lineman, so always file with the discom first, using the channels above.

What a report here does is the part the discom's system does not give back to you. It timestamps the cut. It shows whether the house next door, the next street and the next colony are dark too. That answers a question every lineman and every forum needs answered: is the problem yours alone, or the area's? You can see that pattern build on the live map.

And when the next street has power while yours does not, the reason is usually how the network is split into feeders and transformers. That is explained in why your neighbour has power and you don't.

Your consumer number, sanctioned load and the forum address are all somewhere on your bill. If you have never worked out which number is which, start with our guide to your electricity bill, explained.

Questions people actually ask