Power ministry issues timelines for installing smart electricity meters

The Ministry of Power on Thursday provided timelines for replacing existing electricity meters with smart meters with pre-payment feature in government offices, commercial establishments and industrial units, among others.

According to a notification issued by the ministry on Thursday, all consumers (other than agricultural users) in areas with communication network shall be supplied electricity with smart meters working in pre-payment mode.

All union territories, electrical divisions having more than 50 per cent consumers in urban areas with AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses more than 15 per cent in 2019-20, other electrical divisions with AT&C losses more than 25 per cent in FY20, all government offices at block level and above, and all industrial and commercial consumers shall be metered with smart meters by December 2023.