PremiumNEW DELHI : The government has suspended smart meter bids under its ₹3.03 trillion Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) till 15 March due to multiple issues, two government officials aware of the development said, in a temporary setback for its ambitious plan to reduce power theft and distribution losses.
The problems include 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), and interoperatibility problems of headend system (HES) with multiple meter manufacturers, stalling automatic acquisition of meter data. There is also delay in operationalizing prepaid functionality in these meters, and connections and disconnections are done manually and not automatically, defeating the objective of avoiding human intervention. The programme is also facing a shortage of chips.
The RDSS scheme aims to bring down India’s average aggregate technical and commercial loss from the present level of 20%, to 12-15% and gradually narrow the deficit between the cost of electricity and the price at which it is supplied to zero by 2024-25. The reforms are also aimed at improving the reliability and quality of power supply.
The Union power ministry on 10 January wrote to state-owned Power Finance Corp. (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corp. (REC), “Based on information available on the rollout of these smart meters so far, and feedback gathered from various stakeholders and in meetings, a few problems have also been noted in the projects," and added, “This has led to delays in implementation of smart metering projects." Mint has seen a copy of the letter. The ministry further said, “Only those bidders would be considered and evaluated in the Bids that have effectively demonstrated an end-to-end prepaid Smart Metering solution." PFC and REC are nodal agencies implementing RDSS, which has a compulsory smart metering ecosystem component.
The world’s largest electricity smart metering programme aims to replace 250 million conventional meters with smart ones that will not only help reduce power theft but also ensure reliable electricity supply. A smart meter architecture minimizes human intervention in billing and collection, and reduces 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.
A total of 3.3 million smart meters have been installed across India, with 100 million more to be commissioned and installed by December 2023.
This comes in the backdrop of discoms traditionally being the weakest link in the electricity value chain, plagued by low collections. To be sure, the programme has also recorded benefits from smart metering in prepaid mode, a case in point being Bihar which has reported around 20% increase in collections.
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