Power Secretary pitches in for the request on Thursday.
“I urge the manufacturers to think of innovative ways to reduce the price of the meters to half without compromising on quality,” said Power Secretary Alok Kumar regarding smart meters.
As per industry estimates, a smart meter costs around USD 50, including manufacturing and installation charges. Around 25 crore smart prepaid metres are to be installed by March 2025 under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) at an outlay of Rs 3.3 lakh crore.
Alok Kumar added, “We have improved the loss reduction aspect and are working on the expansion of RDSS scheme and smart distribution,” at the IEEMA’s ‘9th Metering India 2022’ event.
Alok added that IEEMA should focus on capacity building of the utilities and finding opportunities to change conventional meters into smart meters with sustainable disposing option.
Amit Kumar, Chairman of IEEMA Meter Division and Vice President of Schneider Electric India Pvt Ltd, said the combined annual production capacity of the Indian meter industry is more than 100 million smart meters which is sufficient to meet the 2025 target.
Jitendra K Agarwal, Joint MD of Genus Power and Chairman Elecrama 2022, said, “These new age smart meters help reduce the operation and maintenance cost and enhance the quality of service. Metering is an important infrastructure for the country.”
The Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA) has around 1,000 member organisations across the entire value chain in power generation, transmission and distribution, equipment, and electronic goods. Elecrama is part of IEEMA.
