Vi Business, the enterprise arm of telecom operator, Vodafone Idea (Vi), on Monday said it has installed 16.7 lakh smart meters for discoms in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, under the partnership with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL).

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To date, 16.7 lakh smart meters have successfully been installed, with 5.16 lakh for discoms in Haryana and 11.55 lakh for discoms in Uttar Pradesh. These smart meters are being installed on Vi loT technology, which delivers secure and quality communication services, the company said on September 26.

Under the partnership, Vi Business has to install total of 50 lakhs Vi IOT-enabled smart meters and will provide fully secured, IoT-enabled advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) for discoms in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

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The Vi IoT-enabled smart meters have resulted in substantial improvement in monthly meter readings. The deployment of smart meters have also helped in improving billing and collection efficiency and has led to huge upside revenue for the discoms, thereby improving their financial standing.

Recently, the Centre, under its RDSS scheme, has charted out a plan to replace 25 crore conventional electric meters with smart meters across India.

Commenting on the partnership, Arvind Nevatia, Chief Enterprise Business Officer of Vodafone Idea, said the partnership reiterates its business' commitment to offering tailor-made, smooth and fully-secured IoT solutions which enable efficiency and growth.

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Nevatia said the Vi IoT-enabled smart meters minimise human intervention in the overall metering, billing, and collection process and help reduce theft by identifying loss pockets. We look forward to a successful partnership with EESL and discoms.

Arun Kumar Mishra, CEO of EESL, said the company is deploying India's first large-scale smart metering project under the Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP), in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, New Delhi, and Andaman.

He said EESL smart meters are transforming India's energy landscape by increasing billing and collection efficiency; reducing operation and maintenance costs; enhancing the quality of services and providing consumers with demand-side management options.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)