New Delhi, December 8 (IANS). The Central Government informed Parliament on Monday that so far 20.33 crore smart meters have been approved in the country on the basis of the proposals submitted by the states and a total of 4.76 crore smart meters have been installed so far.
Minister of State for Power Shripad Yesso Naik, while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha in writing, said, “Under the Restructured Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), 20.33 crore smart meters have been sanctioned based on the proposals submitted by the states. Additionally, many states have installed smart meters under state schemes or externally aided projects. So far, 4.76 crore smart meters have been installed in the country under various schemes.”
Smart metering under RDSS is being carried out through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Totex (i.e. total expenditure, which is the sum of capital expenditure and operating expenditure) mode. Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider (AMISP) is responsible for the supply, maintenance and operation of metering infrastructure after installation.
Smart meters provide consumers with real-time data on their energy usage. Further, data generated from smart meters at system and consumer level including feeders and distribution transformers provides complete information about energy usage and is being used by the distribution utility to conduct energy audits.
The Union Minister said the shift to prepaid smart meters will enable better budgeting for consumers and better cash flow and billing efficiency for utilities.
The Union Minister said that automation and integration of IT systems is necessary to improve reliability and efficiency in monitoring at substation and grid level. SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition)/DMS (Distribution Management System) systems have been approved under RDSS which help in reducing outages and improving response time to faults through remote monitoring and control, thereby improving the efficiency and reliability of the power distribution network.
–IANS
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