EESL installs 10 lakh smart prepaid meters in Bihar

New Delhi: State-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) on Monday said it has installed 10 lakh smart prepaid electricity meters in Bihar under Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP).

"Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture under the administration of the Ministry of Power, is transforming India's power sector through its Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP)," an EESL statement said.

As part of the SMNP programme, it has installed over 28.39 lakh smart meters across India in states of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Telangana.

Most recently, the company completed the successful installation of over 10 lakh smart prepaid meters in Bihar, it said, adding that this is the first time that smart prepaid meters are being installed at this scale.

The company had signed an agreement with South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (SBPDCL) and North Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd (NBPDCL) for the installation of 23.4 lakh smart prepaid meters in the state earlier last year and is expecting to complete the project by February 2023.

With the installation of 10 lakh meters, discoms in Bihar have been able to generate a daily revenue collection of over Rs 3 crore, it said, adding that the total revenue collected from smart meters in Bihar has already crossed Rs 1,000 crore, it informed.

The prepaid smart meters will optimise the operational performance of distribution companies (discoms) by increasing the billing and collection efficiency, reducing the operation and maintenance cost, and enhancing the quality of service, along with providing the consumers with Demand Side Management (DSM) options.

Arun Kumar Mishra, CEO, EESL, said in the statement, "Smart metering is the fulcrum, around which India's next chapter of energy security, reliability and sufficiency will be written. We at EESL are committed to implementing innovative solutions to enable India in reaching its energy efficiency goals. However, without the zeal of NBPDCL and SBPDCL, we wouldn't have achieved this milestone with such a pace in reforming Bihar's power sector."

These smart prepaid meters are connected through a web-based monitoring system, which will help reduce commercial losses of utilities and enhance revenues.

Other benefits of prepaid smart metering include a marked reduction in peak power purchase cost, the ability to conduct power quality analysis in near-real time such as power factor, maximum demand, voltage etc., and a sharp reduction in carbon footprint, mainly due to reduced patrolling for meter reading, disconnection/ reconnection, outage detection etc.

(With PTI inputs)

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