Odisha to Install 1 Lakh Prepaid Energy Meters

Bhubaneswar: With an aim to reduce power distribution losses, the Odisha Government is planning to extend installation of prepaid smart energy meters to all electrified households after initiating the process to install the facilities in all government offices.

The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has recommended the government to install one lakh smart meters with prepaid facilities in loss-prone areas of the State, according to reports.

The recommendation was made after extensive study of the power consumption pattern, energy requirement and demand-side management, consumers with functional and non-functional meters, un-metered consumers and related issues in power distribution.

“A task force was constituted by OERC for installation of smart meters in the areas of operation under four distribution companies (discoms). Different groups under the task force visited most of the places across India where smart metering is implemented successfully,” said Energy Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra.

The OERC has recommended to the Government for installation of one lakh pre-paid smart meters in the four discoms in order to reduce aggregated technical and commercial (AT&C) loss in the State, which stands at a very high percentage.

The State government has taken initiatives to install smart and pre-paid meters on a pilot basis in Sambalpur and Rourkela under Wesco.

It has been decided to install 4,500 pre-paid smart meters in Sambalpur in the first phase and extend the facilities to Rourkela in the next phase.

Notably, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech last week urged all States and UTs to replace conventional electricity meters with pre-paid smart meters in three years.