Tamil Nadu among 7 states yet to install smart meters; fresh tenders expected soon
High costs quoted by bidders stall TN's effort to adopt cost-cutting smart meters, say sources. Hopes renewed as fresh tenders are to be rolled soon
CHENNAI: Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik said Tamil Nadu is among the seven states that have failed to install even one smart meter under the Centre's Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).
So far, 99 lakh smart meters of the target 20.33 crore sanctioned under the RDSS have been installed in the country (4.89 per cent), according to Naik.
"The Ministry of Power is regularly monitoring the progress of the installation of smart meters by various distribution utilities and taking action to resolve the implementation issues between the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider (AMISP) and the Distribution Utilities," he said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Under the RDSS, 28 states were sanctioned 20.33 crore smart meters, and 21 states were awarded contracts to install 11.90 crore meters.
Only 18 states have installed 99.51 lakh smart meters. Tamil Nadu, which was sanctioned 3.04 crore smart meters (the highest sanction), has not awarded the contract to appoint AMISP to install meters in the state.
Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd sources said that fresh tenders to procure the smart meters would be floated soon. "Due to the high cost quoted by the bidder for the smart meter, the tender has been lodged. We will invite the fresh tenders shortly," the official said.
Smart Metering supports Distribution Utilities in improving their financial viability through benefits such as improvement in billing and collection efficiency, automatic energy accounting, improved load forecasting, optimised power purchase costs and renewable energy integration through net metering, the union minister of state said.
Under RDSS, smart metering is being implemented through the AMISP in TOTEX (Total Expenditure) mode, wherein distribution utilities are not required to incur upfront capital expenditure and pay per-month-per-meter cost to the AMISP. Reducing losses and improving power purchase optimisation would help reduce the cost of power.
