Khattar accords approval for installation of 10 lakh smart power meters

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has accorded approval for installation of 10 lakh smart power meters in five districts of the states.

A Memorandum of Understanding between Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under Union Ministry of Power, and Haryana Power Distribution Utilities would be signed soon, an official spokesman said here today.

He said the decision was taken to improve the financial condition of power distribution companies, to encourage energy conservation and to tackle problems relating to payment of electricity bills.

In the first phase old meters of five districts--Panipat, Karnal, Panchkula, Faridabad and Gurugram would be replaced with smart meters by EESL.

"Under the Uday scheme initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 10,000 old meters were replaced in district Panipat as a pilot project. The scheme would then be implemented in other districts of the state. These smart meters would be GPRS equipped.

Installation of these smart meters along with its associated GPRS system would enable electricity distribution companies to collect real time data on usage," he said.

The spokesman said under the prestigious Mhara Gaon Jagmag Gaon scheme initiated by the state government in 2015, 400 feeders of 2,310 villages including district Panchkula, Ambala, Faridabad, Gurugram and Sirsa are getting round-the-clock power supply.

"Now from July 1, rural domestic consumers of district Fatehabad would also get 24 hours power supply. Similarly, lines losses have been minimised from 30 to 20 per cent at present which would further be minimised to 15 per cent by March, 2019," he said.