Lok Sabha Question No. 486 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-22
Subject: Status of Smart Meter Installation
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: L.S. Tejasvi Surya, Prathap Simha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.486 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.07.2021

## STATUS OF SMART METER INSTALLATION

486.   SHRI L.S. TEJASVI SURYA: SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) the status of smart meter installation during each of the last two years along with the cost of the said programme, state-wise;
- (b) whether  the  installation  of  smart  meters  has  positively  impacted  the  financial performance of DISCOMs and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the benefits of smart prepaid metering;
- (d) whether the Government has taken measures to create awareness about it among the general public and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the  details  of  privacy  related  provisions  made  by  the  Government  to  ensure protection of private data of citizens using the smart meters?

## A N S W E R

## THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R. K. SINGH)

- (a) : As on date, 25.23 lakh Smart Meters (apprx) have been installed in various States  under  various  schemes  /  initiatives  and  about  81  lakh  smart  meters  are  at different  stages  of  implementation.  The  status  of  Smart  meter  installation  during  the years 2019-20 and 2020-21 is given at Annexure-I.

(b) : The Smart Meters enable improvement in billing and collection efficiencies thereby reducing the AT&C losses of DISCOMs facilitating better financial performance. The NSGM has undertaken assessment of the smart meters installed under their Smart Grid  pilot  projects  and  substantial  reduction  in  AT&C  loss  (up  to  15%)  was  noted. Similarly MPPKVVCL (Indore) has reported payback within 2½ years for the project. As per  information  received  from  the  REC,  the  DISCOMs  have  reported  an  increase  in earning  in  the  range  of  Rs.200-500  per  consumer  meter  per  month  wherever  Smart Meters have been installed.

- (c) The benefits of smart prepaid metering are as under:
- i. The working capital requirement will reduce.
- ii. DISCOMs will be able to purchase comparatively cheaper electricity from power exchange which due to financial constraint they are not able to purchase.
- iii. The burden of late payment surcharge will also become zero. The late payment surcharge is quite substantial in some of the States;
- iv. Based on the analysis of consumer-wise data, DISCOMs will be able to improve the infrastructure and provide 24X7 reliable power to all its consumers;
- v. DISCOMs will be able to pay in advance to GENCOS and Transmission companies, thereby taking a rebate of around 1.5% to 2% on the power purchase cost;
- vi. Once generating companies and transmission companies get payment in time or in advance, their working capital requirement will also reduce and to this extent, the tariff will also come down.
- vii. Cost saving as there would not be any requirement of serving a physical bill: - This will do away with irregular billing, particularly, in the rural area where the meters are not read regularly and bills are served either quarterly or half-yearly or even sometimes annually. This has led to cumulative dues which the rural consumers find it difficult to pay timely to the DISCOMs and the amount is compounded with late payment surcharge. With pre-payment meters, consumers can pay as per the convenience and in smaller denominations as per his payment capacity.
- (d) : Ministry of Power vide letter dated 26.02.2021 (Annexure-II) has requested all the States to prepare a road map for shifting over to smart pre-payment meters/ pre-payment meters.

The Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 was notified on 31.12.2020  and as per this Rule, no connection shall be given without a meter and such meter shall be the Smart pre-payment meter or pre-payment meter. The relevant provision in the above mentioned Rule is as under:-

'No connection shall be given without a meter and such meter shall be the smart pre-payment meter  or  pre-payment  meter.  Any  exception  to  the  smart  meter  or pre-payment  meter  shall  have  to  be  duly  approved  by  the  Commission.   The Commission,  while  doing  so,  shall  record  proper  justification  for  allowing  the deviation from installation of the smart pre-payment meter or prepayment meter.'

Respective Power Distribution Utilities have been advised to undertake necessary measures to create awareness about smart meters among the general public.

- (e)  :      Privacy  related  and  cyber  security  related  provisions  have  been  adequately incorporated in the Standard Bidding Document (SBD).  As regards data privacy, the SBD provides that Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider ( AMISP)  should ensure that the system is compliant with the applicable provisions of the 'Reasonable security practices  and  procedures  and  sensitive  personal  data  or  information  Rules,  2011 (IT Act)' .    AMISP  shall  also  be  committed  to work  with Utility  for  compliance  to  Personal Data Protection requirements. Provision for putting in place data privacy framework has also  been  made  which  inter  alia  includes,  amongst  several  other  provisions,  those related to custodian of Smart meter data, submission of 'Privacy by Design' document to the  utility  by  AMISP,  laying  down  of  data  sharing  protocol  and  also  for  conduct  of  3 rd party data privacy audit by AMISP.

The implementing agencies are obligated to undertake strict cyber security protocols, User Acceptance Testing, STQC audits etc.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  486 TO BE ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 22.07.2021

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## Details of smart meters deployed in the year 2019-20 and 2020-21

| Sl. No.            | State                       | Utility             | Project Area(s)                                                | Project Status (Completed/ Ongoing)   | Year-wise actuals   | Year-wise actuals   |
|--------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
| 1                  | Andaman & Nicobar           | Dept. of Power, A&N | Andaman                                                        | On Going                              | FY 2019-20 -        | FY 2020-21 48,516   |
| 2                  |                             | APDCL               | Guwahati Division                                              | Completed                             | 537                 | -                   |
| 2                  | Assam                       | APDCL               | Selected areas of Guwahati and Dibrugarh town                  | Completed                             | -                   | 70,000              |
| 3                  | Bihar                       | NBPDCL & SBPDCL     | Multiple towns under the juridiction of NB and SB              | On Going                              | 25,184              | 1,18,324            |
| 4                  | Chandigarh                  | CED                 | Sub Division 5 of Chandigarh                                   | Ongoing                               | -                   | 5,573               |
| 5                  |                             | TPDDL               | North Delhi                                                    | Completed                             | 1,90,000            | -                   |
|                    | Delhi                       | NDMC                | NDMC Area                                                      | On Going                              | 6,321               | 2,383               |
| 6                  | Gujarat                     | UGVCL               | Naroda                                                         | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
| 6                  | UHBVN                       | Panipat             | City Sub Division                                              | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
| 7 Haryana          | SGKC,                       | Manesar             | POWERGRID Complex, Manesar                                     | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
|                    |                             |                     | Gurugram                                                       |                                       |                     |                     |
|                    |                             | DHBVN &             | Karnal                                                         |                                       |                     |                     |
|                    |                             | UHBVN               | Panipat                                                        | On Going                              | 1,40,914            | 1,08,164            |
| 8 Himachal Pradesh | 8 Himachal Pradesh          | HPSEB               | Kala Amb Industrial Area                                       | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
| 9 Karnataka        | 9 Karnataka                 | CESCOM              | V VMohalla, Mysore                                             | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
| 10                 | Kerala                      | CPT                 | Willington Island                                              | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
| 11 Madhya          | 11 Madhya                   | MP-West             | Dewas, Ujjain, Ratlam, Mhow, Khargone                          | Ongoing                               | -                   | 27,566              |
| Pradesh            | Pradesh                     | MP-West             | Indore city                                                    | Completed                             | 49,694              | 8,836               |
| 12                 | Odisha                      | OPTCL               | Across Odisha                                                  | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
| 13                 | Puducherry                  | PED                 | Division 1 of Puducherry                                       | Completed                             | 4,589               | -                   |
|                    |                             | PED                 | Puducherry                                                     | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
| 14                 | Punjab                      | PSPCL               | different towns of Punjab                                      | Ongoing                               | -                   | 100                 |
|                    |                             | JVVNL               | 6 Towns                                                        | Ongoing                               | -                   | 13,301              |
|                    |                             | JVVNL               | Kota                                                           | Completed                             | 18,000              | 45,000              |
| 15 Rajasthan       | 15 Rajasthan                | JaVVNL              | Jaipur City and Tonk Circle                                    | Ongoing                               | -                   | 24,807              |
|                    |                             | AVVNL               | Satguru Colony, Ajmer                                          | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
|                    | JdVVNL                      | AVVNL Jodhpur       | Makrana&Pushkar                                                | On Going                              | -                   | 2,062               |
| 16                 | Tamil Nadu                  | TANGEDCO            | T Nagar, Chennai                                               | Ongoing                               | -                   | 7,673               |
| 17 18              | Telangana Tripura           | TSSPDCL             | Jeedimetla Industrial Area                                     | Completed                             | -                   | - -                 |
|                    | TSECL                       |                     | Electrical Division No.1, Agartala                             | Completed                             | 4,600               |                     |
| 19                 | IIT Kanpur Smart City Pilot |                     | Smart City Pilot in IITK Campus                                | Completed                             | -                   | -                   |
|                    | UPPCL                       |                     | Varanasi Urban                                                 |                                       |                     |                     |
|                    |                             |                     | Barabanki Bareily Meerut                                       | On Going                              | 8,82,978            | 1,40,808            |
|                    | Uttar Pradesh               |                     | Vrindavan                                                      |                                       |                     |                     |
|                    | West Bengal                 |                     | Varanasi Rural Prayagraj Gorakhpur Lucknow Saharanpur Mathura, |                                       |                     |                     |
|                    |                             | WBSEDCL CESC        | Aligarh Firozabad Kanpur Siliguri Town Kolkata                 | Completed Completed                   | - 8,000             | -                   |
|                    |                             |                     |                                                                |                                       |                     | -                   |
| 20                 |                             |                     |                                                                |                                       | 13,30,817           | 6,23,113            |
| Total              |                             |                     |                                                                |                                       |                     |                     |

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  486 TO BE ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 22.07.2021

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