HPL Electric & Power is optimistic about opportunities in the smart metering space, according to the company’s Joint Managing Director, Gautam Seth.
Quoted in a statement announcing the company results for Q4FY21 and for the full year FY21, Gautam Seth said, “We are extremely positive about the opportunities in the smart metering space as both the public and private power distribution companies increasingly shift focus towards installing smart meters to replace conventional meters.”
It may be mentioned that the Union power ministry has targeted to replace 25 crore conventional energy meters with smart prepaid meters, over the next 3-5 years, as part of the National Smart Metering Programme.
The enquiry base for energy metering tender is at a high level, and tenders amount to around Rs.2,000 crore have been floated or are expected to be floated in the near-term, the release from HPL Electric & Power said.
Meanwhile, HPL Electric’s financial performance in Q4 of FY21 was significantly bolstered by the metering business as well as the B2C segment. In the said quarter, the company’s metering business clocked revenue of Rs.142 crore that was nearly twice the level in Q4 of FY21, and 29 per cent higher than in Q3 of FY21.
According to Gautam Seth, “The performance during the Q4FY21 was attributed by the robust performance of both the metering (B2B) and the consumer (B2C) segment thereby resulting in highest ever quarterly revenue during the last eight quarters at Rs.308 crore. The metering segment improved performance was accredited to an increase in inspections and dispatches.”
Order book position
HPL Electric & Power’s current outstanding order book stands at Rs.704 crore, providing revenue visibility for the current fiscal year, despite the lockdown situation in the first quarter, the statement said.
Metering orders accounted for Rs.292 crore (or 41 per cent) of the company’s outstanding order book. The wires & cables segment came next with Rs.194 crore, followed by switchgear with Rs.142 crore and lighting with Rs.76 crore.
It may be recalled that very recently, HPL Electric & Power received approval and production clearance from a private power distribution utility in Delhi for implementation of 4G- and 5G-compatible Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) based smart meters in various parts of Delhi.
