UPPCL: Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited in Uttar Pradesh will install new smart prepaid meters from November 15 in 20 districts of its area. According to Chief Engineer (in-charge of Revamped Scheme) Chandrajit Kumar, the work of installation of meters will be completed in 27 months. He informed that 50.17 lakh prepaid meters are being procured based on German technology. Rs 5,131 crore will be spent on this. The process of installing prepaid smart meters has been started by Purvanchal Discom. This will make it easier for consumers to make payments.
Can be controlled through mobile app
Consumers can control the new prepaid meter through the app of Electricity Corporation. According to the officials of the corporation, when the consumers stay in the house, then they will be able to keep it on. It has to be closed when going out of the house. With its help, equipment can be monitored. In case of fault, the power supply can be turned on or off from the meter itself from another location. Power consumption can also be monitored.
Only 45 percent consumers pay the bill
According to the Electricity Corporation, at present only 45 percent of the consumers pay the bill. Due to the installation of smart meter, there will be no arrears of the consumers. The more rupees prepaid meter is recharged, the more electricity can be used.
Attempts to reduce the prices of smart meters have failed
Let us tell you that in order to reduce the cost of smart prepaid meters installed in the areas of various power companies in UP, the exercise of issuing tenders by dividing them into small clusters has not yielded the expected results. Dakshinanchal and Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam had issued competitive tenders by dividing them into clusters for installation of prepaid smart meters at consumers’ homes. The prices of smart prepaid meters could not be reduced even in open prices in tenders. The interesting thing is that the total prices in the tender could not be reduced anywhere from the rate of tender issued earlier for the entire zone.
UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) had issued tenders for two power distribution corporations by dividing them into two or more clusters. Earlier, the tender issued earlier for the Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam along with these two corporations was canceled by arguing that the price was high. Where the companies did not come to participate in the re-issued tender for Madhyanchal, the tender was issued after dividing them into clusters in Purvanchal and Dakshinchal.
In the tender, for installation of 37 lakh smart prepaid meters in Cluster-2 of Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam where Kanpur, Jhansi and Banda etc. have been kept, the price of Rs 10097 has come, which is equal to Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam where the tender process is completed. It’s done. 67 lakh smart prepaid meters are to be installed in Paschimanchal. The cost of installing a single phase meter in Dakshinanchal has come to Rs 8880, which is more than the open price in Paschimanchal for single phase.
Similarly, in the recently opened tender for a cluster of 27 lakh prepaid smart meters in Purvanchal, the rate was Rs 10,752, which is much higher than Paschimanchal. Apart from this, the rates given in the tender for installation of same quantity of smart meters in Purvanchal by the same company are quite different.
It is noteworthy that even after dividing the smart meter tenders into clusters, the number of participating companies has not increased. While the participation of more companies was seen in big tenders, it has further decreased in smaller clusters. In one cluster of Dakshinanchal, only two companies have participated in the tender.