The Narendra Modi governments Rs 3.3 lakh crore plan to replace all 25 crore traditional meters in the country with pre-paid meters in the next three years could by far be the smartest move till date to improve the financial Health of discoms (distribution companies).
This increased Average monthly collection per customer by up to 65%. At the same time, the consumption figure per consumer also shot up by up to 42%, indicating the quantum of losses suffered by discoms earlier due to slippage or simply theft.
Though Bihar leads in penetration of pre-paid meters, UP has installed the highest number of smart meters (post-paid category) at more than 11.5 lakh. Bihar is a close second with 11 lakh smart meters installed, Rajasthan 5.5 lakh,Haryana5.3 lakh, Assam 4.1 lakh and Delhi 2.5 lakh.
In the first phase, 10 crore meters are to be replaced in priority areas (high loss, high value consumers) by December 2023. Meters in remaining areas will be replaced by March 2025.
The smart meter scheme aims at strengthening institutional capabilities for modernising discoms, reducing line losses to 12-15% by 2024-25 nationally and bringing the gap between the cost of supply and revenue realised to nil by 2024-25.