1. CONSUMER CHARTER & CUSTOMER PARTICIPATION ASHOK PENDSE MUMBAI GRAHAK PANCHYAT

2. ABOUT MGP Working for consumer protection for 33 years. Areas of work such as equipment complaints, gold, taxi-rickshaw tariffs, credit cards, cable network, telephone, etc. Source of revenue. Six Consumer complaint cells, Five judges of consumer courts. Working as consumer representative with MERC from its inspection i.e. August,1999.

3. EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF CGRF & OMBUDSMAN Easy accessibility regarding place, time & geographical location. Awareness about its functions & capability giving stay till dispute is resolved. Major complaints are in the area of average billing, excess billing & stopped meter. Also new connections Monitoring of implementation of its orders. Appointment of members & chairman at appropriate times.

4. EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF CGRF & OMBUDSMAN The number of complaints has stabilized & in some cases reducing. It is necessary to educate semi-urban & rural consumers by CGRF.

5. CONSUMER EDUCATION & PROTECTION 1 st tier Protection & education from tariff shock, routine complaints. 3 tiers of education: 1 st tier : Capable of taking up issues of regulatory commission, appellate tribunal & supreme court. The tariff is cost-plus hence, every item of expenditure needs to be analyzed. Some of the examples are as follows: Cost of transportation of coal in respect of rail, sea & road transport. Audited expenditure versus prudential expenditure. Manpower cost circle wise / utility wise comparison Benchmarking of power stations on capacity, vintage basis.

6. CONSUMER EDUCATION & PROTECTION 2 nd tier Routine complaints in respect of bills, meters, etc. Complaints regarding new connections in respect of agricultural pumps. Also education regarding load shedding protocol. We have trained about around 250 consumer activist in 6 districts by conducting seminar. We are targeting about 200 more in 4 districts by April-09 end.

7. CONSUMER EDUCATION & PROTECTION 3rd tier Basically rural masses, This is in respect of agriculture connections. Rural electrification programme & definition by poverty line.

8. FINANCIAL AID High expenditure in case of tribunal & supreme court.

9. IDENTIFICATION OF PERSON For tier-1 person capable of appreciating engineering, commerce & law required. For tier-2 mass communication programme required.