Stocks like Tata Power, Genus Power and HPL Electric & Power were in focus through last week. That was courtesy of the orders for smart meters they received. The three companies cumulatively received orders worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore last week.

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Genus Power won an order worth Rs 2,207.5 crore for the appointment of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider (AMISP), which includes the design of AMI with supply and commissioning of 27.69 lakh smart prepaid meters.

HPL Electric also announced it won an order for smart meters worth Rs 903 crore, inclusive of taxes. That took its total pending pipeline order book to Rs 2,250 crore.

Finally, Tata Power said it received an order worth Rs 1,744 crore to implement the smart metering project in Chhattisgarh.

The latest order in this has been won by GMR Power whose subsidiary GMR Smart Electricity Distribution Pvt. Ltd. (GSEDPL) has received a Letter of Intent from Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. and Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. to implement a smart metering project in these areas. The subsidiary will install, integrate and maintain 75.69 lakh smart meters in the given areas.

Genus Power mentioned that many state discoms issued requests and solicited bids for the installation of smart meters, indicating that the Reforms-based, Result-Linked Power Distribution Sector Scheme or RDSS was having a tangible effect. The company said the RDSS would lead to a multi-fold increase in the annual size of the smart meter industry.

What is the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme?

The government launched the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) in July 2021 with an outlay of Rs 3.03 lakh crore and estimated gross budgetary support of Rs 97,631 crore. The scheme aimed to reduce AT&C losses to pan-India levels of 12-15 percent and the ACS-ARR gap to zero by 2024-2025. ACS is the average cost of supply per power unit and ARR is the average revenue realised.

AT&C or Aggregate Technical & Commercial losses are the sum total of technical and commercial losses and shortages due to the non-realisation of the billed amount. It is calculated by (energy input - energy billed) multiplied by 100 and divided by the energy input.

Through this scheme, the government aims to bring this gap down to zero. Currently, the ACS-ARR gap has declined from Rs 0.69 per kWh to 0.22 kWh in the financial year 2022.

The scheme entails two parts:

Upgradation of distribution infrastructure and pre-paid smart metering and system metering and

Training and capacity building and other enabling and supporting activities

Under the first part of this scheme, the installation of 25 crore smart meters by the end of 2025 is envisaged across the country. Advanced metering infrastructure will also be installed for remote meter reading for error-free data among other needs.

What is a smart meter?

A smart meter measures and records energy consumption data. It differs from the regular meter as it is a digital device that communicates remotely with the utility. It will send consumption information to the concerned utility after every 15 minutes to an hour and eliminates the need for a meter reader.

Eligibility criteria

All state discoms, excluding private sector power companies, will be eligible for financial assistance under this scheme. The scheme is optional to the discoms and is being implemented in urban and rural areas of all states and Union Territories.

REC and PFC have been designated as the nodal agencies for the scheme. States and Union Territories have been allocated between both organisations. Pre-paid smart metering work carried out after January 1, 2020, will be eligible for funding, provided it was carried out under the TOTEX mode.

The TOTEX (capex + opex) approach looks at the total cost of expenditure, over the long-term operating life.

The following areas have been taken up on priority for pre-paid smart metering in the first phase of this scheme, which will be implemented by December 2023. These areas include:

All Union Territories

All electricity divisions of 500 AMRUT cities, with AT&C losses of over 15 percent in the base year

Industrial and commercial consumers

All government offices at block and above level

Other areas with higher losses

Any other area or agricultural consumer that the discom considers necessary

Current status

According to the National Smart Grid Mission as of June 30, a total of 23 crore smart consumer meters have been sanctioned on a pan-India basis, of which, orders for 3.65 crore meters have been awarded so far. A total of 66 lakh smart meters have been installed so far.

Uttar Pradesh is topping the list with 12 lakh smart meter installations, followed by Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. West Bengal, Bihar, Kerala, Haryana and Assam complete the list.

First Published:Jul 10, 2023 9:05 AM IST