NT Reporter
Panaji
Smart electricity meter installation work among household consumers in the state is unlikely to restart immediately, as electricity department officials are awaiting government approval on the project.
Nodal officer for the smart meter project, Mayur Hede, on Friday said that although the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) report has recommended replacing existing meters with smart meters, the electricity department would wait for a while before resuming installations.
The GHRC found no human rights violation in the installation of smart meters, allowing the rollout to continue while recommending that the department issue notices to consumers before replacing their existing meters.
Hede clarified that the smart meter rollout in the state did not stop over the past five months. “The installations are continuing among the industrial and commercial consumers as well as domestic consumers applying for new connections. The state presently has around 55,000 smart meters installed and functioning as compared to 20,000 meters in May this year,” he said.
Smart meter work among domestic power consumers had halted in May this year following a public outcry against them.
The state has set a target to install one lakh smart meters in 2026-27, as part of a larger plan to install a total of 7.5 lakh smart meters across all power consumers at an investment of Rs 890 crore.
The project is fully funded by the Centre under the central Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). The smart meters are free, and consumers do not have to pay for installation.
The electricity department had previously indicated that smart meters have been made mandatory by the Centre for all states to improve transparency and accuracy in electricity billing. Furthermore, the state’s successful implementation of the RDSS scheme is crucial to securing concessional funding for power infrastructure projects, according to the department.
