Power discoms in Bihar are earning recharge revenue of Rs.5 lakh per day, thanks to smart prepaid meters, a release from EESL has observed.
EESL (Energy Efficiency Services Ltd) has installed around 25,000 smart prepaid meters in Bihar. Consumers on an average are recharging their prepaid smart meters with credit balance of Rs.20 per day. This has resulted in daily recharge revenue of Rs,5,00,000 per day, the EESL release said.
EESL is the designated agency to implement the smart metering programme in India. Bihar is the first state in India to use smart prepaid meters.
Smart meters deployed by EESL have the capability to switch to prepaid mode with a remote button click from the IT system. Wherein the general populace has to adhere to the social distancing norms by the government, electricity distribution companies have not been able to physically collect electricity bills from consumers, leading to dip in the cash flow. However, few discoms are enjoying the perks of using the prepaids smart meters.
Bihar has around 28,000 smart meters installed by EESL, out of which about 25,000 are smart prepaid meters.
Under the national smart metering programme, more than 12,00,000 smart meters have been installed so far in India, to enhance consumer convenience and rationalise electricity consumption. EESL has enabled the nation’s disoms in generating 15-20 per cent average increase in monthly revenue per consumer amid the lockdown. With the help of smart meters’ features such as remote connect and digital payments, discoms have been able to maintain business continuity even during the current challenging times.
It has been observed that more than 60 per cent smart prepaid consumers in Bihar are recharging their credit balance through the mobile application only.
Highlighting the vital role of smart meters, Saurabh Kumar, MD, EESL said, “The current situation has only served to reinforce the efficacy of smart meters, by completely eliminating manual interventions. Smart Metering is poised to be the launchpad for a comprehensive reform of the power sector. The benefits of smart metering, beginning with a seamless online billing process, real time tracking of electricity usage, and reduction of billing errors has cascaded down the energy value chain to the consumers as well. Consumers have, for the first time emerged as the focal point in the power sector. The ability to track their usage real time has translated into energy and capital savings for the consumers, along with an access to a new era of consumer experience. Additionally, the implementation of AMI technology leads to enhancement of operational efficiency of utilities through various factors such as better outage management system, remote meter reading and error free billing etc.
During this current crisis, often the consumer complaints are not being addressed in time due to non-availability of access/staff and infrastructure. However, through the smart metering solution, along with online resolutions, help desk representatives can address consumer query in real-time basis. Hence, approximately 99 per cent complaints have been successfully resolved during these trying times.
The Smart Meters programme is also an unprecedented step towards delivering digital literacy and services under the Digital India programme of the Government of India. This programme is playing an important role in empowering citizens by bringing in transparency and accountability in electricity consumption and billing.
(Featured photograph is for illustration only. Smaller photograph shows a smart meter by EESL.)
