Protected consumer checker

Protected consumers pay far less per unit, and the status depends on a six-month history, not on this month alone. Enter your last six readings and see where you stand, how much headroom you have, and when a lost status comes back.

Units billed in each of your last six bills. They are on the bill's history panel, or check each one on the homepage.

Printed on the bill. 5 kW and above is never protected.

Enter all 6 months.

Based on the notified definition: Non-ToU residential consumers consuming ≤ 200 kWh per month consistently for the past 6 months. The tariff code on your bill is what the DISCO actually applied; if it disagrees with this, the bill wins and is worth querying.

The rule, in the gazette's words

Non-ToU residential consumers consuming ≤ 200 kWh per month consistently for the past 6 months.

Two conditions. First, every one of the six previous months at or under 200 units. Second, a non-ToU connection, which in practice means a sanctioned load below 5 kW. Our guide to the 200-unit rule covers the condition most explanations miss, and the tariff page has both rate schedules side by side.

What to do with the result

  • Protected with little headroom: the months to watch are the hot ones. One air-conditioner for a month is usually enough to cross 200.
  • Just lost it: the bill is painful for six months. The bill calculator shows the difference, and the guide to cutting a bill is where to start.
  • The bill says unprotected but the history says protected: query it with your DISCO, with the six bills in hand. The company pages list each one's complaint numbers.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly is a protected consumer?
Non-ToU residential consumers consuming ≤ 200 kWh per month consistently for the past 6 months. The definition is in S.R.O. 1165(I)/2022, PART-II, A-1 Residential, page 29, and is still in force.
Is it six consecutive months or any six?
The notified wording is 'consistently for the past 6 months', a rolling look-back over the six months immediately before the bill. In practice one month over 200 means the next six bills are unprotected.
My sanctioned load is 5 kW. Can I still be protected?
No. A sanctioned load of 5 kW or more must be metered Time-of-Use and billed on A-1(b), and protected status applies only to non-ToU consumers, whatever the units.
How much does protected status save?
At 200 units the protected energy charge is 100 × Rs 10.54 plus 100 × Rs 13.01, against 200 × Rs 28.91 unprotected: less than half, before fixed charges and taxes.
Does the DISCO work this out automatically?
Yes. The billing system assigns the tariff code from your history each month. This checker shows what that history implies, so you can see a change coming and query a bill that disagrees.