By Shailesh Yadav

New Delhi [India], December 17 (ANI): The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has released draft Consumer Protection Regulations 2025, introducing sweeping reforms to safeguard consumer interests across India's oil and gas sector.

In an exclusive interview, AK Tiwari, Member, PNGRB, announced that the regulations will be implemented within two to three months following a 30 to 45 days of public consultation process.

'The consultation process will take around 45 days or so. After that, I think two to three months we are going to have the regulation in place,' Tiwari said, emphasizing that PNGRB is taking an 'aggressive step' to protect consumer interests in a sector serving a vast consumer base.

The regulations will impact over 32 crore LPG consumers, 1.5 crore PNG connections, 70,000 Industrial/commercial consumers, 8,000 CNG stations, and more than 85,000 retail outlets for petrol and diesel across India.

Tiwari acknowledged that while companies are currently taking care of consumers, there has been no unified regulatory framework.

'There is no one regulation. So we have launched the public consultation document, wherein we are taking care of the rights of the consumers--what are their rights, what are their obligations, and what are the obligations of the companies,' he explained.

The comprehensive framework establishes fundamental rights for consumers while creating a standardized four-tier grievance redressal mechanism applicable to all City Gas Distribution entities, oil marketing companies, LPG distributors, and retail outlets.

Under the new regulations, consumers will gain explicit rights including access to quality products, timely service delivery, transparent pricing, and swift complaint resolution.

The framework mandates strict turnaround times for complaint resolution--24 hours for emergency issues like gas leakage, seven working days for service complaints, and 15 working days for routine matters.

The 17-chapter regulation covers complaint mechanisms, grievance redressal systems, appellate authorities, compensation frameworks, feedback mechanisms, transparency requirements, consumer awareness and education.

'This is going to give immense comfort to the consumer because their interest is going to be protected. Companies will work in a transparent way, and their services will be improved, besides the safety, which is also prime in this sector,' Tiwari said. (ANI)