Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) has announced the successful installation of over 5,00,000 smart meters in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, under the Government of India’s Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP) that envisages replacement of 25 crore conventional meters with smart counterparts, pan India.
Made with the latest technology as well as certified and type tested by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as per IS16444 guidelines, which are followed and accepted globally, these smart meters are installed in accordance with guidelines issued by the Central Electricity Authority, a release from EESL noted.
Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL said, “To overcome challenges such as billing inefficiencies, unauthorised power consumption, and discoms’ financial woes, the Government of India is accelerating the adoption of smart meters. We are pleased to support discoms in their pursuit of energy sustainability and accountability with the adoption of future-ready technologies like Smart Meters.”
How it works: 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. 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.
Payment model: EESL’s Pay-as-you-save (PAYS) model has been at the core of this successful implementation and the positive experience of partner discoms. EESL procures smart meters, as well as services of the system integrator with 100 per cent investment, enabling DISCOMs to benefit with zero upfront financial investment. Their repayment to EESL is through the monetisation of energy savings, resulting from enhanced billing accuracy, avoided meter reading costs and other efficiencies.
(Featured photograph, sourced from larsentoubro.com, is for representation only)
