
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) is likely to award the first package of the much-awaited smart metering project to Adani Energy Solutions Limited (AESL), an Adani Group company, since it has emerged as the lowest bidder, according to highly placed sources in the board.
A report by AESL showed Tamil Nadu as one of its key target states for the project, with the highest number of meters to be installed among states and with the initial budgetary support under the Union government’s Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) expected to be around Rs 19,000 crore.
AESL has emerged as the L1 bidder in the first package of the project, which is in the financial bid opening stage as per the state government’s official website for tenders. Officials, however, said a final decision on the award of the contract is yet to be made.
TNEB floated tenders for the project in August 2023 in four packages, with each package covering different districts, to install a total of around three crore smart meters across the state under RDSS. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of sanctioned smart meters under the scheme. Each package will involve the installation of around 80 lakh meters.
Though the tenders were floated last year, there were delays in finalising the contract due to some legal hurdles. Officials, however, said the delay is prolonging further even after the legal issues were resolved.
If the first package is finalised in favour of AESL, the company will be designated as the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider for the roll out of the project as per the DBFOOT (Design, Build, Finance, Own, Operate, Transfer) model in TOTEX (Capital Expenditure + Operational Expenditure) mode. As per the RDSS scheme guidelines, the AMISP will implement and manage the infrastructure for a period of 10 years.
AMISP will be responsible for supplying, maintaining, and operating the metering infrastructure. While a portion of the capital expenditure will be paid by the government initially, the remaining will be paid during the operation and maintenance period on a per-meter per-month basis.
A TNEB official told TNIE, “The Adani Group had quoted prices below `120 per meter per month as AMISP service charge in a few other states. However, the quoted price for Tamil Nadu is higher.” “We are negotiating with the bidder to bring down the price,” the official added.
As per the latest report on installation of smart meters for consumers on the National Smart Grid Mission portal, AESL is implementing the project in states like Maharashtra, AP, Uttarakhand and Bihar. The installation of smart meters is expected to reduce Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses in the state from 16% to 10%.
It will also improve billing efficiency and support better planning of the tariff structure. As part of the project, the TNEB installed 1.10 lakh smart meters in Chennai’s T Nagar on a pilot basis under the Smart City project in 2018, he added.
(With inputs from Pon Vasanth BA@Chennai)