CHENNAI: Responding to the Union government’s direction that all States and Union Territories should replace conventional energy meters with prepaid smart meters by 2023-24, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) has said this is not feasible due to the poor supply of smart meters in the market.
The Union government’s direction was aimed at avoiding revenue leakages in State-owned power companies, which have already incurred massive losses. Several states, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh, have already started installing smart meters.Under the smart city project in Tamil Nadu, TANGEDCO planned to set up 1.42 lakh smart meters at a cost of Rs 142 crore (including server charges). But only 40 per cent of this target has been realised.
