Premium| Listen to this article |
NEW DELHI : IntelliSmart, a joint venture between National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Ltd (NIIF) and state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), has won an order for installing 600,000 smart pre-paid meters from Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd. (APDCL).
Creating a smart meter architecture minimizes human intervention in the billing and collection process and helps reduce theft by identifying loss pockets. It requires a two-way communication network, control centre equipment and software applications that enable near real-time gathering and transfer of energy usage information.
“IntelliSmart Infrastructure Private Limited (IntelliSmart), a joint venture of National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), has secured its first order to install more than 6 lakh pre-paid smart meters in 19 circles of Assam. This becomes country’s first ever competitively bid smart metering project by any State on Totex mode (capex + opex) and Assam gets the distinction of leading the smart metering drive of the country on competitive model," IntelliSmart said in a statement on Wednesday.
This comes in the backdrop of India rolling out the world’s largest electricity smart metering programme to reduce power theft and help the country’s struggling distribution utilities become more efficient. India aims to replace 250 million conventional meters with smart ones.
“As part of the project awarded by Government of Assam through APDCL, IntelliSmart will implement the project in Totex mode under the Design Build Finance Own Operate and Transfer (DBFOOT) arrangement and maintain the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system for a total contract period of about 9 years. The project will be undertaken in Nagaon, Morigaon, KANCH, Cachar, Badarpur, Jorhat, Golaghat, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, GEC-I, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Rangia, Mangaldoi, Tezpur, North Lakhimpur and GEC-II circles of Assam," the statement added.
This comes in the backdrop of discoms traditionally being the weakest link in the electricity value chain, plagued by low collections, rise in power purchase cost, inadequate tariff hikes and subsidy disbursement, and mounting dues from government departments.
“This is a proud moment for us as we secure first ever competitively bid smart metering project of the country. This shall entail an investment of about 500 Crs in the state for enabling smart metering in pre-paid mode and would usher the transformation in the power distribution in Assam through the digitalization process," Anil Rawal, MD & CEO, IntelliSmart said in the statement.
The country’s smart meter programme has also been garnering interest from large corporates, including Reliance Industries Ltd, which plans to leverage its telecom business to offer meter data collection, communication cards, telecom and cloud-hosting services to power distribution companies. French state-run power utility Electricite de France SA has also been involved in installing 5 million smart meters in India.
Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!