Like mobile, now electricity service will also be prepaid and postpaid. Now smart meters will be installed in every home after removing the old meters. The electricity supply will be interrupted when the prepaid meter does not have sufficient balance . After recharging, the electricity service will be restored.
Six tenders of Rs. 26 crores have been distributed and LOA (Letter of Acceptance) has been issued to four companies including Adani Power. Now these companies will have to replace the meters of 2.37 crore customers across the state with prepaid smart meters in a span of 27 months. These companies will be responsible for the maintenance and repair of meters for the next 10 years.
Mahavitran keeps one month’s bill money in the name of security deposit. But after the prepaid meter comes, the company will get the bill money in advance. Now the question arises whether the security deposit will be returned to the customers after installation of smart meters.
Smart meters will also be installed in 27,000 feeders and four lakh transformers across the state to prevent loss and theft of electricity. meters are already installed in the feeder. But since there is no chip, it is of little use.
Lokesh Chandra, Chairman and Managing Director of Mahavitaran, who came to Nagpur to review the power distribution system, gave this information. He said that the work of changing meters will start in the next four months. But it has been directed to provide smart meters for new connections from next month itself.