Installation of Smart Meters in Jammu, Srinagar to begin by Nov 15

According to an official spokesperson, Principal Secretary Power Development Department (PDD), Rohit Kansal, today convened a meeting to review the Centrally Sponsored Schemes and installation of Smart Meters.

During the meeting, the PIA informed that installation of smart meters shall be started in Srinagar and Jammu cities from November 15, 2020. In the first phase 20,000 meters would be installed and the process would continue in a phased manner till entire quantity of 2 lakh meters sanctioned under PMDP is installed.

Principal Secretary asked RECPDCL to ensure that there would be no further delays and the metering process in other urban and rural areas under various centrally sponsored schemes is implemented expeditiously.

Briefing the meeting, the officers of RECPDCL informed that with the installation of smart meters, the consumers will be able to know their electricity consumption pattern and bill on real time basis, by which they will be in position to manage load and reduce their monthly bill.

The consumers will also know the status of power supply and load in use when away from home, they added. "Smart meters will bring about transparency in metering, billing and collection which will eventually reduce power losses and ensure quality and reliable power supply to consumers," Principal Secretary observed.

Consumers can recharge the smart meters in the same manner as mobile phones are recharged thus eliminating the requirement of manual meter reading and paper bill distribution, the meeting was told. The meters will be read remotely in Data Centre at Srinagar and Data Recovery Centre at Jammu through communication channels, which will also facilitate the distribution Corporations to know the status of power supply at consumer end and take prompt action in case there is power interruption due to system faults or some other reason.

While reviewing the progress of system strengthening and electrification works under implementation in urban and rural areas, under various centrally sponsored schemes, the implementing agencies informed that out of 11 packages of IPDS and PMDP- Urban schemes sanctioned at a cost of Rs 1590 crore 6 packages will be completed in December, 2020, 4 packages in March, 2021 and one package in June, 2021. Out of 19 packages of DDUGJY and PMDP-Rural schemes, sanctioned at a cost of Rs 1777 crore, 4 packages will be completed in February, 2021 and remaining 15 packages in March, 2021.

Out of 28 towns of RAPDRP-B projects sanctioned at a cost of Rs. 1665 crore 12 towns will be completed in November, 2020, 11 in June, 2021 and 5 in December, 2021.

With a view to ensure that the timelines for completion of projects are adhered to, the Principal Secretary informed that a Project Monitoring Unit has been established at Administrative Department level and a web based Dashboard has been set up through which project status including physical/financial progress, achievements, slippages and bottlenecks are being reported regularly.

The Principal Secretary directed to establish a robust Management Information System (MIS) to be linked to Dash Board as the next step. He asked the Project Management Agencies (PMAs) to provide necessary inputs for the Dashboard/ MIS so that corrective measures required to ensure hassle free project implementation is ensured.