Power utilities to roll out smart meters to conserve energy

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh power utilities are going to take up the smart meter project introduced by the Government of India with the objective to provide quality power and better services to consumers. The project will also help ensure accurate billing, accountability, transparency and efficiency among utilities, besides reducing technical and commercial losses. 

During a teleconference of Energy Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy on various aspects of the power sector, including smart meters, officials briefed him about rolling out smart meters in Andhra Pradesh, which is an initiative of the Government of India, in association with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Government of the UK. 

Special Chief Secretary for Energy K Vijayanand informed that the Government of India has decided to replace around 25 crore conventional meters with smart ones across the country under the Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP).

The smart meters will help in addressing the problems of consumers regarding wrong billing and getting reconnected after disconnection due to non-payment of bills, besides saving electricity and monitoring of online meter readings.The project will also help power utilities reduce Aggregate, Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses of power, theft of power and distribution losses. Smart meters are also used for recording the consumption of electricity and measuring voltage levels. 

While traditional meters measure the power consumption of a home or a business, smart meters live up to their name and transmit the same information for every 15 minutes or hourly to utility providers. Since the smart meters are connected to the internet, they can send information to the consumer about the usage and also Discoms for monitoring purpose and accurate billing. 

Vijayanand further said the Union Ministry of Power, in association with the Energy Department, organised a workshop recently to provide AP power utilities officials in-depth knowledge on introducing smart meters in the State.

The minister was informed that as per the reports of the Centre, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi and Telangana have signed MoUs for smart meters with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). Responding to a query of the Energy Minister on sustained efforts in reduction of AT&C losses which helps strengthen the power sector, the officials informed him that as per the report submitted to the Centre, the AT&C losses of the State are around 11.21% in 2021-22 against country’s 22.32%. 

Under phase-1 of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), investment proposals for smart meters and loss reduction works in all the five circles of APEPDCL have been submitted to the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission for approval. The estimated outlay is Rs 947.15 crore for smart metering works and Rs 2,578.86 crore for distribution loss reduction works.