- Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy Shri RK Singh announced the completion of the project to replace 50,000 conventional electricity meters with smart meters in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area on January 9, 2019.
- Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a Super Energy Service Company (ESCO) under Ministry of Power has implemented this project. With this, NDMC has become the first distribution company (DISCOM) in India to implement 100 per cent smart metering solution. The adoption of smart meters will enhance consumer convenience and rationalise electricity consumption.
- As per Shri RK Singh, India is making rapid strides in providing universal access to affordable power. The Government of India is accelerating the adoption of smart meters to ensure efficient management of electricity by checking data-entry errors, billing inefficiencies, and cutting the costs of manual meter reading through web-based monitoring system. Smart Meters will revolutionise the power sector through their vast cascade of benefits including reduced AT&C losses, better health of DISCOMs, incentivisation of energy conservation and ease of bill payments.
What are Smart meters?
- Smart meters are part of the overall Advanced Metering Infrastructure solution (AMI) that measures and records consumers’ electricity usage at different times of the day and sends this information to the energy supplier through over-the-air communication technology.
- This gives consumers better access to information and enables them to make more informed decisions on the use of electricity in their homes, leading to reduced power wastage, and providing long-term carbon and financial savings.
Smart Metering (AMI) Solution
- EESL has funded and built the Smart Metering (AMI) Solution in the project area. It will also operate and manage the system enabling NDMC to benefit from smart meters with zero upfront financial investment.
- NDMC’s repayment to EESL will be through the monetisation of energy savings, resulting from enhanced billing accuracy, avoided meter reading costs and other efficiencies. This includes the immediate elimination of the cost of manual meter readings. These savings further enable NDMC to invest in value-added services for its consumers.
