CHENNAI: All digital power meters in Tamil Nadu will be replaced with smart meters over the next few years to help consumers get information about consumption, tariff, bill due date, and penalty for defaulting on payments automatically on their mobile phones.
The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) has assigned Industrial Technical Consultancy Organization of Tamil Nadu (Itcot) to prepare a preliminary technical report for the project.
According to a senior Tangedco official, Itcot would submit its report in a few months, and meter installation work would start soon.
“To eliminate human intervention for collecting meter readings and to facilitate remote disconnection and reconnection of EB services, smart meters have been proposed. Under Chennai Smart City Project, more than one lakh smart meters were installed in Thiyagaraya Nagar. Infrastructure, hardware and software have been procured at a cost of Rs 7.45 crore but some software development work is still on,” the official added.
Another official said smart meters would be connected to Tangedco’s main server and the meters, approximately costing Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 apiece, would be offered free for consumers. State and Union governments promised funding for the project before the pandemic, but no significant allocation has been made so far, another official said.
Though smart meters were installed in Thiyagaraya Nagar almost a year ago, bills are still being collected based on digital meters as software development work is still on, the officer said.
Pending software works rob smart meter of its use
Though smart meters were installed in Thiyagaraya Nagar almost a year ago, bills are still being collected based on digital meters as software development work is still on, an officer said.