Smart meter project yet to be off the blocks in Kerala

New Delhi: A total of 66.18 lakh smart meters have been installed in 18 States of the country till now, including 805 meters of the Cochin Port Trust which has a licence for distribution of electricity. Oddly, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has not installed even one smart meter. In all 1.32 crore smart meters need to be installed in Kerala.

All power consumers in the country will have to install smart meters by December 31, 2025.

Of the 18 States, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi have installed over 1 lakh smart meters each, while West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, and Odisha have fewer than 20,000 meters each.

In Tripura (43,081), Telangana (8,882), Karnataka (21,874) and Gujarat (23,760), only the pilot projects under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) are going on. The States that have not begun the smart meter project are: Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Sikkim. 

The States will be given 15-22 per cent subsidy for the project. A special subsidy of 33 per cent will be given to the States which desperately need additional help.

Four-stage plan

The installation of new meters is planned in four stages in Kerala. During the first stage, 37 lakh consumers will be covered. Companies may charge Rs 6,000 for the installation of the prepaid meter and for the maintenance of it for 10 years. A smart meter could be bought for Rs 2,500-3,500. Though the KSEB has started the tender proceedings, State Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty has suspended the same due to stiff

opposition from labour unions. 

Advantages of smart meter 

The new-generation energy meters are used to record electricity consumption in real-time accurately. It is proposed to replace the existing slab system. There will be no fixed charge for consumers, however, the rates will be higher during the night. 

Centre’s directive

The Central government has directed that the first phase of the smart meter project under which electricity can be used by paying the tariff upfront should be completed before December 31, 2023. All government offices above the block level and industrial and commercial consumers should change over to the prepaid system before the deadline. 

Prepaid meters should be installed if the revenue loss suffered by the electrical divisions in urban areas for the previous year was above 15% and 25% in rural areas. All the remaining consumers must shift to the system before March 31, 2025, the Centre has directed.