UP govt launches investigation into power outage, notice served to L&T

The Uttar Pradesh government has launched an investigation into the power failure on Janamashtmi eve, which left more than 300,000 households in the dark, due to irregularities in smart meters. The managing director of UP Power Corporation Limited (central region) will conduct the probe. Action has already been taken against L&T which looks after the upkeep of smart meters. The chief minister has also asked the Special Task Force (STF) to look into the matter. The state energy department said that a notice has been served to L&T regarding the power failure due to smart meters.

The power outage, which affected 300,000 consumers in the state, was caused by improper handling of the software in smart meters. On Wednesday evening, power was cut to over 300,000 households with smart meters despite the fact that their bills were paid. The state run Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has installed smart meters in UP. These meters are maintained by L&T. According to the officials in the energy department, incorrect programming of the software in smart meters was behind the problem.
 

Due to the power failure, consumers held demonstrations at various power stations in Lucknow and other cities. The power corporation asked the EESL to look into the matter.  While the fault was repaired after three hours, the Director Operations, EESL, Venkatesh Diwedi took action against the officials responsible. On Wednesday night, he said that EESL's UP head and a project manager of L&T had been suspended. The EESL director said that a techincal error in smart meters was behind the power cut. He said that all smart metering services had been restored.

Meanwhile, the UP Power Engineers Association as well as the consumer’s body demanded cancellation of the contract of the erring companies which installed smart meters in the state.