Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has installed over 5 lakh smart meters in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. These meters have been distributed under the Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP). The smart meters operational in these states aim to enhance consumer convenience and rationalise electricity consumption, an EESL statement said.
The Smart Meter National Programme that aims to retrofit 25 crore conventional meters with smart variants will lead to 80-100 per cent improvement in billing efficiency.
These smart meters are installed as per guidelines issued by the Central Electricity Authority. Smart meters are part of the overall Advanced Metering Infrastructure solution (AMI) that measures and records consumers’ electricity usage at different times of the day and sends this information to the energy supplier through GPRS technology, EESL said.
This gives consumers better access to information and enables them to make more informed decisions on the use of electricity in their homes. This can immediately control AT&C losses, due to power pilferage, bypassing meters, defective meters, or errors in meter reading. Every kilowatt of power drawn from the grid is thus accounted for – and billed, thereby reviving DISCOM revenues, EESL added.
EESL recovers the cost of these meters through the monetisation of energy savings, resulting from enhanced billing accuracy, avoided meter reading costs and other efficiencies.