In what could be a defining
milestone in India's power
distribution sector, Delhi
Electricity Regulatory
Commission (DERC) has
decided to introduce time-ofday
(ToD) metering on pilot
basis. When implemented,
Delhi will be the first state in
the country to have such a
metering system. ToD metering
is being implemented with a
view to discourage or limit power
consumption during peak hours.
Consumers will be charged
differential tariffs for electricity used
in peak and off-peak hours. The move,
initially to be applicable to consumers
with a load of 300 kW of higher, can
potentially flatten the peak power
curve to a large extent.
Interacting with Electrical Monitor on
the technical and implementation
aspects of ToD metering, Ramesh
Narayanan, CEO, BSES Yamuna Power
Ltd, explained, "Building consumer
awareness so that the consumers find
the process simple and easy to avail will
be a huge practical challenge." On the
technical front, all the equipment at
BYPL including consumer meters are
ToD metering-compliant, he said. Part
of Reliance ADA Group, BYPL is one of
the three private distribution utilities in
Delhi, the others being group company
BSES Rajdhani, and Tata Group-owned
North Delhi Power Ltd.
In Delhi, peak demand met has
almost doubled from 2,879 mw to
5,642 mw over the past decade.
Growth in power demand has
increased by 25 per cent in BYPL's area
of East and Central Delhi. In rest of
Delhi, comparable growth in power
demand has been 10 per cent. In the
summer of 2012, BYPL met its highestever
peak demand of 1,413 mw. When
BYPL took over power distribution
from DESU in July 2002, the peak
demand stood at just 798 mw.
Discussing how ToD meter could
help flatten Delhi's demand load
curve, Narayanan noted, "Our power
demand is very high from 9am to
11pm and is goes down drastically in
off-peak hours. ToD metering would
act as a trigger for consumers to
efficiently use power and use
appliances at off-peak hours to reduce
Delhi's peak demand."
Unmanageable growth in peak
power demand has often
compelled Indian power
utilities to effect load shedding
in residential areas.
The National Electricity
Policy and National Tariff
Policy have envisaged that
state regulatory commissions
introduce ToD metering in
order to reduce peak power
demand.
In a general sense, ToD metering,
sometimes known as Time of Usage
(ToU) metering is a rate option that is
offered by utilities to consumers.
When elected, the existing energy
meter may need to be replaced by a
smart meter that can record demand,
time, usage, etc. Narayanan is of the
view that any power utility—be it
private or public—is equipped to
handle ToD metering provided the
meters in use are electronic and have
built-in ToD metering features.
The concept of ToD metering is very
popular in developed countries like UK,
USA, Canada, Japan, etc. ToD metering
seeks to flatten the load curve by
distributing power demand throughout
the day. ToD metering is perhaps the
most efficient demand-side
management. When generally accepted
by consumers and implemented
effectively by utilities, the ToD
metering culture can go a long way in
obviating investment in setting up new
power generation capacity and
associated T&D infrastructure.
It is interesting to observe that Delhi
that has been a forerunner of power
sector reforms is also set to usher ToD
metering in India. Ramesh Narayanan
more than agrees and asserts, "Be it
intra-state UI (unscheduled
interchange) mechanism, PPP in
distribution or KVaH billing, Delhi has
always been a trendsetter, and will
continue to be!"
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