Tamil Nadu Electricity Board employees visit the houses once in two months, check the electricity consumption recorded in the meter and take account of the electricity consumption. Some late metering results in less electricity users and higher bills.
Some employees collect money from house owners and bill the high electricity consumption. Due to this, the electricity board is also losing revenue.
Therefore, it was decided to implement the ‘Smart Meter’ scheme for unmanned and accurate metering. This meter will be fitted with a communication device and connected to the office ‘server’.
As the date of enumeration will be uploaded into the software, when that date arrives, the enumeration will automatically take place and an SMS will be sent to the consumer’s mobile phone number regarding electricity usage and charges.
As a pilot effort, smart meters are being installed in 1.42 lakh electricity connections in Chennai D. Nagar and accounts are being taken. The Tamil Nadu government has given permission to expand this scheme to the entire state.
An Electricity Board official said:
Apart from installation of smart meter, the private company is going to carry out the work of information exchange, coordination and maintenance. The central government has given permission to spend up to 6,000 rupees per 1 meter. At a lower cost than that, smart meters will be installed in Tamil Nadu.
For this, no fee will be charged to the consumer. A tender will be invited to select a contractor soon. Smart meter scheme will be implemented in 3 crore households in a phased manner.
This is what he said.