Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government had no decision to replace smart meters with digital meters.
Replying to a query from reporters today, the Chief Minister said, "The government has no decision to replace smart meters. The consumers feel cosy with smart meters. The power bills also read less."
A section of media reported that the Board of Directors of the APDCL (Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd) had taken the decision to provide postpaid digital meters, instead of smart meters, to new power connections if the consumers wanted so, and the consumers belonging to the Jeevan Dhara and domestic A categories would get preference in getting postpaid digital meter connections.
The APDCL installed as many as 41,93,258 of the 69,21,329 smart meters in the state. Assam is much ahead of the other states of the country insofar as giving smart meter connections to power consumers.
Under the National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) and the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), the Government of India set an ambitious goal of installing 250 million smart meters by 2025-26. However, in most of the state, domestic consumers are opposing the installation of smart meters primarily due to significantly higher bills compared to earlier. Additionally, there were frequent complaints about the lack of transparency in bill verification for consumers. Recent data that was available on the website of the National Smart Grid Mission shows that the smart meter installation programme has come to a near standstill in many states and union territories, resulting in a massive shortfall from the target. According to the data, as of November 2024, many states and union territories in India have shown zero or negligible progress in smart meter installation. Despite approvals for installing 30 million smart meters in Tamil Nadu, 14.2 million in Rajasthan, 8.784 million in Punjab, and 13.2 million in Kerala, not a single meter has been installed in these states. The situation was the same in Meghalaya (460,000 approved), Mizoram (289,000), Nagaland (317,000), Jharkhand (1.341 million), Arunachal Pradesh (287,000), Goa (741,000), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (83,573), and Puducherry (403,000), where no installation reports have been recorded.
Also read: AAECA leads statewide protests against mandatory smart meter rollout
Also Watch: