One-time relief for these Greater Bengaluru property owners: Electricity connection without Occupancy Certificate

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has introduced a special relaxation allowing homeowners within its jurisdiction to obtain electricity connections without having to submit an occupancy certificate (OC).

Under this special scheme, a homeowner can apply for electricity connection even if an occupancy certificate has not yet been issued. After receiving the application, the concerned electricity supply company will carry out a site inspection, take photographs of the property, and verify that the building has been completed and satisfies the prescribed eligibility criteria.

Which residential buildings qualify for this relaxation?

According to a post by the GBA on X, these are the requirements:

• Residential buildings built on sites measuring up to 2,400 sq. ft. (with a permissible
• Ground + 3 floor residential buildings, or
• Stilt Parking + 4 floor residential buildings
• For buildings that have applied for an electricity connection on or before May 31, 2026

What does this mean?

Digbijay Das, Senior Director, Valuation Services at Colliers India, says that this scheme comes after a landmark Supreme Court judgement on December 17, 2024, which was filed after the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) strictly mandated that new electricity, water, or sewage connections will be given only to property owners with a valid Occupancy Certificate (OC).

Obtaining an OC requires perfect compliance with building plan approvals, structural safety, setbacks, and fire norms.

According to Das, in Bengaluru, most of independent home/property constructions are built on 'revenue sites' (un-approved layouts or B-Khata properties). Such properties are legally not qualified for obtaining standard plan approvals, and therefore, could never obtain an OC and were permanently blocked from legitimate domestic power connection.

The electricity cost can be lower since residential charges are lower than commercial charges. Das says: "Such property owners had the option to rely on expensive, temporary connections used for commercial purposes or continue without power connection altogether."

In this context, the Greater Bengaluru Authority's (GBA) June 2026 announcement gives relief to residential property owners by introducing a crucial one-time special exemption of OC for permanent electricity connections to small-to-mid-sized residential buildings.

Das says: "By avoiding the strictly enforced mandatory OC requirement, this policy announcement is expected to resolve a gridlock for many households with temporary electricity connection."

How does this help residential property owners in Bengaluru?

Das says this policy intervention is expected to provide economic relief to property owners in the low to mid income groups.

The policy intervention is expected to result in direct and indirect benefits.

Das says that direct benefit is evident in terms of availability of domestic power, as it helps to significantly reduce the power bill for property owners.

According to Das, indirect benefit like rent generating potential is expected to accrue to property owners in a sporadic manner, and such indirect benefits will be limited only to the low to mid income segments.

Das says "Rent generating potential for residential units built on independent plots is expected to increase as legitimate power will be available."

Das explains here's how else it helps:

• This is also expected to bring more cash flow to the property owners. This will facilitate housing loan repayment where the property was constructed on bank loan and subsequently available for rent but unoccupied due to power restriction.
• Certain residential units are expected to be fit for occupancy with legitimate power supply. Therefore, supply pressure on rental units will ease to a certain extent.
• Most of these residential units built on smaller sites next to established commercial corridors and trading hubs of Bengaluru are used for PG accommodation, hostels. This policy announcement is expected to bring financial relief to property owners and thereby, rentals may ease.