Risk of privatisation: CPM to hold door-to-door campaign against smart meters

CHENNAI: Alleging that the implementation of the smart meters would lead to privatisation, the CPM on Monday announced that it would conduct a door-to-door campaign to explain the drawbacks of the project and organise a mass petition movement in front of the Tangedco offices.

“The Union government is forcing all consumers to install smart meters by Dec 31, 2025. These function as pre-paid meters. In Maharashtra, consumers are paying up to Rs 13,000 per meter,” CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan said in a statement.

Tangedco has floated bids to procure 3 crore smart meters under the DBFOOT (design build finance own operate and transfer) model. The private companies would procure and install them on the consumer premises.

“They could be used as both prepaid meter and collect energy charges based on the time of consumption,” he added. “Consumer can use this to get prepaid cards from the company he thinks he can get and use the electricity. Through this, the closing ceremony will be held for the electricity boards. This will enable various private companies to leverage government infrastructure to maximise their profits. With this, every household will face the risk of paying extra for the electricity they use during peak hours, just like businesses do.”

Balakrishnan raised doubts that the prepaid metering would take away the free power supply and subsidy power supply availed by consumers. Pointing to the Union government’s condition for financial support to the State government only if the latter allowed smart meter procurement via private companies, he stated: “The government in Kerala has rejected this scheme. We urge the State government here to reject it too, as it threatens the existence of the EB board and takes away free and subsidised power supply.”