The first and the largest tender for procuring 10 million prepaid meters saw 12 bidders submitting interest for participating in the reverse bidding. However, the leading three large players in the industry – Landis Gyr India, Secure Meters, and HPL India - have not joined the race. Sources said some players have concerns on product safety and tariff regulations. The tender was floated by Energy Efficiency Services (EESL). The whole amount reportedly would be procured by Uttar Pradesh (UP). Among the ones who have submitted technical bids are ITI, which won the last smart meter tender by EESL, Larsen & Toubro, whose bid was cancelled in the last smart meters tender, Genus Power Infrastructures and JnJ Powercom Systems, both of whom were sub-tendered the smart meter by ITI. Among other bidders are JNG Power, Allied Meter, Sumuruverda, and ZenMeter. United Electrical, Keonics, Vexing Electricals, Electronics Corporation of India, and Bentec India. The companies that have kept out have expressed concerns over the tariff structure of a prepaid meter. “A prepaid meter functions on a singular tariff, whereas states like UP have more than a dozen tariff slabs. The technical specification of a prepaid meter does not support it.
It is highly unexpected that the state would change the tariff structure because an average tariff would be high for a large section of domestic consumers,” said a senior sector executive.
Power ministry officials, however, said that close to 10 states now have regulations for prepaid metering, including UP, which would install the first set from this tender. “The tariff for prepaid meter is usually lower and the states which have come forward would ensure that they have the required regulations in place,” said an official. Regarding the participation, government officials said the companies which have kept out might not see business sense in this tender. “Our model is to bring down the price of prepaid meters through the demand aggregation model. For some, it might be no business case or they are waiting to see the success of the scheme,” said an official. ITI, which won the tender for smart meter, later sub-tendered the contract to four private companies. The Indian electrical industry, in its latest representation to the power ministry, said that none of the sub-contractors have necessary specifications or standard certificate from the Bureau of Indian Standards. Out of these four, one contractor is JnJ Powercom Systems, which is alleged to have defaulted in its supply of meters in Tripura and is likely to be blacklisted, said officials. Other is Keonics, which has already been blacklisted in Karnataka for technical faults. The same companies are now participating in the bidding for prepaid meters. Power ministry officials said due proceedings are being followed in the tender and the companies which match the technical specifications would be allowed in the financial bidding The meter industry is also sceptical on the amount of meters in a single tender. “Typically, it takes a year to install maximum 500,000 to 1 million meters. Here, UP alone has an order of 10 million prepaid meters and 5 million smart meters. First servicing of a smart meter is due in three years from the day of packaging. How will they install so many meters, especially when there are so many replacements also to be done?” asked an executive. Senior power ministry official said the meter tender has been floated according to the demand shared by the respective states.
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