More than 1.1 million smart meters installed in UP till March: Minister

The Uttar Pradesh government's power department installed more than 11 lakh smart meters since the project began in 2018, Energy Minister AK Sharma said in the assembly on Wednesday.

The data shared by the minister was updated till March 20.

"From the start of the installation work till March 20, 2023, 11.79 lakh smart meters were installed in the state. In this period, 72,846 complaints were received regarding the meters. Of these complaints, 56,681 were found true after which the meters were changed," he said in reply to a question by Samajwadi Party member Atul Pradhan.

"Of the total 56,681 meters that were changed, 52,250 were out of order while 4,431 were changed due to other technical reasons," he added.

On a query that the meters were generating higher electricity bills, the minister said it is not the case.

"The bills are generated on the basis of exact power consumption," the minister said.

About 1,005 complaints were received about smart meters running fast. Of these, 961 were found to be working fine and 44 meters that were found running fast were changed.

The minister said that if any consumer creates doubt over fast running of smart meters, check meters are installed to ascertain any shortcomings and the meters are changed within 15 days.