First lot of 70K smart meters installed in Faridabad

The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has installed 70,290 smart power meters in the Faridabad circle so far and plans to procure another five lakh meters soon to replace the majority of electronic devices installed in domestic and non-domestic sectors.

After the process to install 1,33,805 meters in the circle took off last year, the authorities have been able to install 52.5 per cent of the available meters, sources in the department of power supply said.

Though the deadline for the installation of the first lot had not been revealed officially, the authorities had proposed to replace about a lakh meters by the end of the financial year, it is revealed. The pace of the project got slowed down due to the elections this year, resulting in lower achievement, according to officials, who said the department would release a fresh tender for the procurement of another 5 lakh meters in the next few weeks.

There could be a change in the company for the supply of the next lot due to the conclusion of the earlier contract, they said. The installation of the meters has taken place in the NIT division of the circle, which has five zones. The circle has 6.83 lakh connections in residential, commercial, industrial and agriculture categories.

A rebate of 5 per cent on the bills generated through the prepaid smart meters has been announced. While consumers will have the option to pay the cost of the power to be supplied by the DHBVN in advance, the billing will depend on the number of units consumed. The consumer will have to get the account recharged to avoid any disconnection, said an official.

It will not only help in cutting down the expenses of the existing billing process, but also in advance receipt of payment and reduction in working capital costs, it is claimed. The Union Ministry of Power has also asked the state discoms to offer a discount on bills of the prepaid meter scheme. The cost of replacement is being borne by the DHBVN.

Jitender Dhull, Superintending Engineer, DHBVN, said the process was on to replace the old meters as per the directions of the state government.

Smart meters, equipped with GPS, were expected to curb the incidence of power thefts and erase complaints of wrong reading and inflated bills, officials said. Connected with the DHBVN control room, the reading will get downloaded automatically in the system and can be monitored by consumers, too. The meters (prepaid and postpaid) can be recharged anytime.