‘Smart power meters after festive season’

Ranchi: Jharkhand Bijli Vitaran Nigam Limited (JBVNL), the state-owned power distribution company, would install prepaid smart meters after the festive season this year.
“A specialised agency is holding surveys in various areas of the city and expected to complete the process by September itself. The work of installing prepaid smart meters at Ranchi would commence after the current festive season. We expect to install these high tech meters in at least 50 per cent of the cities within two years,” KK Verma, the managing director of JBVNL, told TOI.
The smart meters not only stores energy usage data of a consumer, but also sends the data over a secured network to the power supplier concerned for billing purposes. It functions more like the prepaid mobile SIM cards that we use. Consumers will need to recharge their meters in advance These meters are also beneficial for power suppliers as every unit of power supplied is accounted for, thus curbing power thefts and ensuring revenue collection for the suppliers, he added.
Power officials said smart meters would be installed at consumer’s premises free of charge.
Meanwhile, the JBVNL has launched a campaign on its web site, asking consumers to voluntarily apply for installation of a smart meter. Power officials said while plans have been drawn up to install smart meters in urban areas in the initial phase, consumers applying for such meters would be given preference.