India Installs 4.93 Crore Smart Meters; Government Highlights Major Push Toward Prepaid Power Efficiency

New Delhi: A total of 4.93 crore smart meters have been installed across the country with 1.6 crore smart meters functioning in prepaid mode under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), the Parliament was informed on Thursday.

Under the scheme, smart metering works for 19.79 crore consumers in prepaid mode, 2.11 lakh feeders, and 52.53 lakh DTs, totalling 20.33 crore smart meters, which have been sanctioned based on the proposal submitted by the states/distribution utilities and 3.58 crore smart meters have been installed, Power Minister Manohar Lal told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The balance smart meters have been installed by states under their state plans/ other schemes, he added.

Postpaid service has traditionally been in the default mode. However, considering the benefits offered to both consumers and distribution utilities, deployment of smart prepaid meters has been undertaken under the RDSS.

The installation of prepaid smart meters is being prioritised for government establishments, commercial, industrial and high-load consumers and subsequently for other consumers based on demonstration of benefits, said the minister.

Besides the consumers, prepaid smart metering helps improve the billing and collection efficiency of the distribution utility while providing benefits like automatic energy accounting, improved l;oad forecasting, use of data analytics for demand side management and facilitating an enabling ecosystem for energy transition.

The benefits, accruing to the distribution utilities, eventually get passed on to the consumers in the form of better services and lower costs, according to the minister.

Initially, there were some challenges in the implementation of smart metering works due to inadequate consumer awareness regarding the benefits of smart meters. To improve consumer engagement and enhance confidence, the Ministry issued various advisories/standard operating procedures (SoPs).

These included incentivising consumers for prepaid meter installation through a rebate in bill; no penalty on the consumer based on the maximum demand recorded by the smart meter; a mechanism for recovery of past arrears in easy instalments; and installation of check meters for enhancing confidence in the accuracy of smart meters.

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