‘All meters to be smart prepaid in 3 years’, says Power Minister; advises meter manufacturers to scale up production
New Delhi: “In next three years metering will go smart prepaid, and gone will be the days of bills reaching your house. So need of the hour is to scale up manufacturing of smart prepaid meters and to bring down their prices.”said Shri R K Singh, Minister of State(IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy. Shri Singh was addressing a meeting of meter manufacturers called by the Power Ministry here, today.
The Power Minister advised the manufacturers to scale up the manufacturing of smart prepaid meters as the demand would be huge in coming years. The Minister also advised the officials of the Ministry to consider making smart prepaid meters mandatory after a particular date.
This will revolutionise the power sector by way of reduced AT&C losses, better health of DISCOMs, incentivisation ofenergy conservation and ease of bill payments etc. Further, it will generate skilled employment for the youth.
The meeting discussed various aspects of smart meters e.g. BIS certification, compatibility with RF/GPRS, harmonisation with existing digital infrastructure etc. It was also agreed that all technical aspects will be further deliberated into in consultation with meter manufacturers, DISCOMs and system integrators.
Shri AK Bhalla, Secretary, Power; Shri Sanjiv Nandan Sahai, Additional Secretary; Shri Arun Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power were among the officials present from the Central Electricity Authority, PFC, REC, EESL and meter manufacturers.
