The A.P. Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (AP-SPDCL) is preparing to invite tenders for supply of smart meters, which include prepaid meters proposed to be installed in all government offices, as per the Chief Minister’s recommendation.
By replacing the conventional meters with smart ones, the DISCOM intended to instil a sense of discipline among the government departments to consume power carefully and, more importantly, pay the bills promptly lest the dues should keep growing beyond a point where recovery becomes a daunting task.
Interestingly, a Chinese company — Shijiazhuang Kelin Electric Co. Ltd. (called ‘KE’) based in Hebei province — emerged as one of the likely bidders. It was asked by the Southern DISCOM to provide 100 smart meters comprising those having prepaid functionality (SIMs) free of cost for demonstration.
According to official sources, a delegation of the company held preliminary discussions with the engineers of the SPDCL in Vijayawada.
The firm is expected to make the demo meters available soon but faces competition from other bidders.
The smart meters have to be certified by either the Central Power Research Institute or the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories and meet other technical specifications.
The basic requirement is the DISCOM should be able to connect/disconnect the service connections remotely through the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA).
The meters will run only till a particular number of units are consumed, after which additional power has to be bought using prepaid vouchers or cards. An SPDCL official said a single-phase smart meter costs around ₹1,000 and a three-phase one about ₹5000.
