Lok Sabha Question No. 1877 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-14
Subject: Prepaid Smart Metering
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: P.R. Natarajan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1877

## ANSWERED ON 14.12.2023

## PREPAID SMART METERING

1877. SHRI NATARAJAN P.R.:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government had taken a decision for operating under the framework of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) under TOTEX model for prepaid smart metering and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has had any consultation with the stakeholders before taking such decision with regard to pros and cons of the said project and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government is aware of the fact that the State Government  of  Kerala  has  opted  to  explore  alternative  approaches  that prioritise  the  welfare  of  the  people  by  harnessing  the  capabilities  of  the public sector and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to withdraw TOTEX model and go for alternative in line with the State of Kerala; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto?

## A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R.K. SINGH)

- (a) : To avoid post implementation operational issues and to ensure handholding  support  to  DISCOMS,  the  Revamped  Distribution  Sector  Scheme (RDSS) guidelines mandate the roll-out of smart meters through PPP (Public Private Partnership) on TOTEX  mode.  The  implementation  of  Smart Metering  in  TOTEX  mode  makes  this  component  self-financing  and  the DISCOM  will  not  have  to  pay  upfront  for  the  capital  expenditure  on  the same. As smart metering is a new technology    and    many   Discoms may    not   have   technical   expertise  for

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operation  and  maintenance  of  the  smart  metering  system,  hence,  the AMISP (Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider) will be responsible for supplying, maintaining and operating the metering infrastructure post installation and will be paid for a portion of its capital expenditure  initially  &  the  remaining  payment  would  be  paid  during  the O&M period (7-10 years) on per meter per month basis, which is linked with performance.   This approach ensures end-to-end responsibility of AMISP for delivery of services during the entire life cycle of the project.

(b) :   Prepaid Smart metering for consumers and System metering at Feeder and Distribution Transformer level with communicating feature along with associated Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) will be done to facilitate automatic energy accounting as well as auditing.

Energy  accounting/  timely  collection  of  govt.  dept.  dues  etc.  are essential for  improving  operational  &  financial  efficiency  of  DISCOM, accordingly  prepaid  smart  metering  project  for  Govt.  departments  and system meters have been envisaged to be undertaken on priority in DISCOM as per RDSS guidelines.

Data  gathered  as  part  of  the  two-way  communication  in  a  smart metering solution will help utilities to improve their load forecasting, which will help them in optimizing their power procurement thereby reducing the cost of power supply. The direct impact of this feature will be on reducing the  ACS-ARR  gap  and  AT&C  losses  due  to  improvement  in  Billing  & Collection  efficiency  of  the  DISCOM  which  will  ultimately  benefit  end consumer.  Further,  a  smart  meter  captures  consumption  pattern  and provides real-time information to  consumers to plan their usage of electricity.

The contour, concepts and components of the scheme including key dimensions of the roll out strategy of smart metering implementation were discussed in detail with States/ DISCOMs in Review Planning and Monitoring (RPM) meeting of power sector held on 09.01.2020. Further, various aspects of the scheme were again discussed during the Power Minister's conference held on 3rd July 2020.

- (c) :    Government of Kerala has proposed an alternate model of implementation of Smart Meters, which was reviewed in the Ministry and thereafter  the  Government  of  Kerala  have  been  requested  to  submit  the detailed proposal along with the implementation and roll out plan so that it can be examined from all aspects, considering the extant guidelines of the scheme.
- (d) to (e) :   There is no such proposal under consideration in the Ministry.

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