Smart electric metres to be installed in Jammu and Kashmir

In an attempt to bring transparency in the electricity billing and ensuring quality and reliable power supply to the people, smart electric metres will be installed in Jammu and Kashmir under the Prime Minister Development Programme. The consumers will also know the status of power supply and load in use when away from home.

Srinagar: Installation of smart electricity metres to bring transparency in billing and reduce power losses will begin in Jammu and Srinagar from next month, officials said on Sunday.

In the first phase starting November 15, about 20,000 meters would be installed in the twin cities and the process would continue in a phased manner till the entire two lakh meters, sanctioned under Prime Minister Development Programme (PMDP), is installed.

This was revealed at a meeting, chaired by principal secretary PDD, Rohit Kansal, to review the centrally-sponsored schemes and installation of smart meters.

During the meeting, the principal secretary asked RECPDCL, which is the project implementing agency (PIA), to ensure that there would be no further delays and the metering process in other urban and rural areas under various centrally-sponsored schemes is implemented expeditiously, officials said.

Briefing officials at the meeting, the officers of RECPDCL informed that with the installation of smart meters, the consumers will be able to know their electricity consumption pattern and bill on a real-time basis, by which they will be in a position to manage load and reduce their monthly bill.

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The consumers will also know the status of power supply and load in use when away from home, the officials said. Kansal said the smart meters will bring about transparency in metering, billing and collection which will eventually reduce power losses and ensure quality and reliable power supply to consumers.

The officials said the consumers can recharge the smart meters in the same manner as mobile phones are recharged, thus eliminating the requirement of manual meter-reading and paper bill distribution.

The meters will be read remotely in the data centre at Srinagar and data recovery centre at Jammu through communication channels, which will also facilitate the distribution corporations to know the status of power supply at the consumer end and take prompt action in case there is power interruption due to system faults or some other reason.

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PTI