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Prepaid metering is one of the most promising initiatives
towards improving the financial health of the discoms in
the country. Though already implemented by certain
utilities in several parts of the country, it is yet to be taken up
in a big way by the distribution companies.
Speaking about the prepaid meters at a recent
IEEMA-organised event in New Delhi, Sunil
Singhvi, Vice President–Marketing, Energy,
Secure Meters and Head of Meter division at
IEEMA, said, “In India, we do not have people
who have much experience with prepaid
meters. However, those who have it find it very
useful. It is beneficial for utilities as well as
consumers.”
Prepaid meters offer ‘pay-as-you-go’ facility
to the consumers. It helps the consumer to keep
a track of their electricity expenses as it
provides real time consumption information in
terms of money as well as electricity units. The
utility also benefits as it receives upfront
payment for the electricity supply eliminating
overheads and billing problems.
Singhvi further added “There is no issue of
acceptance of these meters. Manufacturing of
these meters is also not an issue. For implementation of these
meters, initiatives need to be made by the government and
utilities. Prepaid metering is a system and for its
implementation, regulations and government policies need to
be worked out.”
The government has also shown keenness in
implementation of prepaid meters. B.K. Chaturvedi, Member
(Energy), Planning Commission said “We have kept the target
of 88.5 GW for power sector in the XII Plan period. For
achieving this, an investment of 12.5 lakh crore is required in
power generation, transmission & distribution. Smart
Metering will surely help the power sector, while there is a
need to start prepaid metering which will help in avoiding
electricity theft.” He further stated “prepaid meters have not
really caught on. It needs to be figured out how it can be
expanded as it can bring more discipline in the
distribution system of the country.”
Adding to this, K. K. Agarwal, Member (Grid
Operations & Distribution), Central Electric
Authority, said “prepaid meters offer benefits
to utilities as well as consumers. The utilities
will have to work out a way for their
implementation on a large scale. Such meters
are installed in some parts of the country on
pilot basis, and the results are encouraging.”
Giving his views Sundeep Tandon, Vice
President, HPL, stated “prepaid meters will
contribute to the healthiness of the utilities.
Resources which are now used by the utilities
to follow up on payments can be used in
improvising the system.” He further
mentioned “in private sector prepaid meters are
already popular. If government intent is there,
prepaid meters will pick up pace very soon.”
Prepaid metering system is gradually picking up pace in
India. New Delhi Power Ltd, Himachal Pradesh State
Electricity Board, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution
Company, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company are some of
the utilities which have forayed into prepaid meter
installation. According to the industry experts, with the right
policies, large scale implementation of prepaid metering
system can be seen in the coming years.
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