Govt revises smart meter rollout plan, may adopt aggregation model

The government is revising the smart meter rollout mission by shifting to an aggregation model, which is the same as the bulk procurement strategy it adopted for the LED bulbs, which helped in reducing the prices to about a fifth in four years. A senior officer said that the government was revising the smart meter launch plan under the Rs 3.1 lakh crore proposed distribution reforms scheme. The government now will target meter rollout mission mode in 500 AMRUT cities, union territories, industrial and commercial cities in its first phase. The rural regions will be included in the second phase of the five-year distribution scheme. The scheme expects to require ten crore meters in the first phase and 15 crore meters in the second phase. After revision of the scheme, it will be sent to the Cabinet ministry for consideration. The finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced in her budget speech that the initial target of the scheme covers all consumers, including agricultural consumers with prepaid or the metering by the distribution companies. The smart meter implementation makes a crucial part of the scheme, accounting for about half of the funding. The State-run Energy Efficient Services that executed the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) already secured 10 million single-phase smart meters for Rs 2,200 each in the aggregation model. Along with the bulk purchase programme, the government expects a further cut in the meter prices. Because of the UJALA programme, the average cost of LEDs has reduced to Rs 70 per piece, which was Rs 310 per piece in 2014. Implementation of the smart meter has caused a major change in the way business is carried out in discoms. Officials say that power regulators have also proposed the implementation of the smart metering programme. Image SourceAlso read: Tata Power launches smart meters in Delhi on Reliance-Jio’s NB-IoT Also read: EDF instals 1 lakh smart meters in first large deployment in India