Discom to install smart meters after LS polls

The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has planned to install “smart prepaid electricity meters” after the Lok Sabha polls to apparently avoid consumers’ reaction. The discom has not installed a single meter of its March target of 25,000 citing delay due to technical work.

The MSEDCL Pune circle has chosen three areas — Bund Garden, Mulshi and Haveli outskirts such as Uruli Kanchan, Wagholi, Phursungi — to introduce smart electricity meters on experimental basis.

One of the senior officials at Mumbai said, “The meter installation has been delayed due to the Lok Sabha polls as we do not know the reaction of consumers during poll season.”

At least 68,400,000 electricity consumers in western Maharashtra, including Pune, will be installed with smart meters. In the Pune circle, 32,870,000 single and three-phase meters in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad city, Ambegaon, Junnar, Maval, Khed, Mulshi, Velhe, and Haveli talukas will be covered.

The meters will offer various conveniences, such as online bill recharge similar to mobile phones. Power supply will not be interrupted between 6 pm and 10 am even after recharge ends, and there will be no power cuts on public holidays. The cost of electricity from smart meters will be available on a mobile app, with notifications sent via SMS.