Smart electricity meters in “cold storage” for now in Bengaluru  

If all went to plan, by December this year, 17.5 lakh smart meters should have been installed in the limits of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) in industries and commercial establishments, government offices, and a few other places. However, so far, no smart meters have been installed by Bescom under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) (a scheme launched by the Government of India to improve operational efficiency of discoms and reduce their losses). 

Although the proposal given by Bescom for the implementation of RDSS was cleared by the State Level Distribution Reforms Committee (SLDRC) in December 2021, there has been no progress as the proposal awaits the State cabinet approval. While officials are tight lipped as to why the project isn’t cleared yet, a senior official said the project seems to be in “cold storage” for now.

For smart meters to become a reality, after the cabinet approval, the detailed project report (DPR) should be approved by the Monitoring Committee, which comes under the Ministry of Power before the meters can be sanctioned. According to a well-placed source in Bescom, at that stage, the pending government dues of the company could act as a catch for the sanction. Currently, Bescom is owed around ₹5.5 thousand crores by various government departments.  

Along with these factors, there are several other hurdles faced by Bescom to implement prepaid smart meters. Senior officials in the Energy Department said that the lack of communication by some installed smart meters, excessive time taken in integrating Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) with the legacy billing software of State-owned distribution companies (discoms), component (silicon) shortage and cyber security issues to name a few.  

Way forward for smart meters  

“A pilot project would be taken up to conduct a study on overcoming the hurdles in a phased manner and later expand gradually. There will be a review of international experiences where case studies related to deployment of smart meters will be studied. Working group meetings will also be held to discuss technical and commercial aspects to get insights of current scenario on metering technologies,” a senior officer said.

While there is no clarity about the implementation of RDSS scheme, Bescom has plans to install smart meters outside of the scheme. More than a year ago, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) gave Bescom its approval to take up a pilot project to install smart meters in government offices as well as in H.S.R. Layout division. No tender has been called yet for this project as the agenda is still awaiting approval from the Board of Directors of Bescom. According to estimates, around eight lakh smart meters would be required to implement this project. 

Amidst these developments, on August 4, the KERC notified draft rules for installation of prepaid smart meters by consumers (of all categories) themselves across the State. Explaining how the prepaid smart meters would work, an official from Energy department said, “Prepaid meter, as name suggests, is nothing but pay before use meter. Consumers need to pay before they consume the electricity flowing through the meter. It is very similar to prepaid mobile connections.”