Chandigarh to shift power meters outside houses in Sector 8

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, December 22

In order to improve efficiency, the UT Administration has decided to shift electricity meters outside the houses in Sector 8.

Under the pilot project, the administration would shift overhead electricity cables to an underground system in Sector 8 and shifting meters outside houses was a part of it, said a senior UT official.

The benefits

• Improve power distribution as the chances of tampering with the meters will be eliminated
• Easier to take meter readings even if a house is locked
• People used to express reservations to employees entering houses to take readings

468single-phase meters

874three-phase meters

He added that the work of shifting cables was completed and would be commissioned soon. Now, the work of shifting meters would begin. After allotment of Rs 2.52-crore tender, the work would be completed within six months.

The official said the department was in the process of finalising the company. As many as 468 single-phase meters and 874 three-phase meters would be shifted.

The official said shifting cables underground eliminated the hazard posed by high-tension wires that hung precariously on the edges of slip roads, road berms and parking lots in the sector. The existing power infrastructure in the area was more than 50 years old, which led to frequent breakdowns and disruptions in supply.

After the completion of the project, there would be uninterrupted power supply even during thunderstorms or heavy rains. Distribution losses would come down, too.

The official informed that the Central Government had approved Rs 241 crore in May last year for the installation of smart meters in the city under the smart grid project. Under the pilot project, more than 24,000 smart meters had been installed in Sectors 29, 31, 47 and 48, Faidan, Ram Darbar, Hallo Majra, Raipur Kalan, Makhan Majra and Daria villages and the Industrial Area, Phases 1 and 2. The official said all smart meters were installed outside the houses only.

The administration had planned to replace all electricity meters with smart ones in the entire city by the 2022-23 fiscal, but the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has shelved the project.

The official said the MHA had decided to halt the installation of smart meters in the remaining parts of the city as the UT Electricity Department was being privatised and the firm that would run the department would install the smart meters as per its requirement.