NT Reporter Panaji
Stating that smart power meters are the need of the hour, Chief Electrical Engineer Stephen Fernandes Thursday said that the meters will provide consumers with an insight into power consumption as well as help the electricity department to plan for the required infrastructure.
Speaking at a public hearing held by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) on true-up petition, Fernandes said smart meters will provide a clear understanding to the consumers on various aspects such as the number of times power was disrupted, what was the voltage etc.
“We will be able to curb losses. The consumer will know what is happening on an everyday basis and it will help him or her to reduce the units consumed. Once smart meters are installed, the billing cost and metering cost will be done away with,” he said and added that the department will also be able to plan for infrastructure with the help of the available data. The Chief Electrical Engineer said that installation of around 20,000 smart meters has been complete and it includes feeders, distribution transformer centres (DTCs) and government consumers.
This will be followed by installations pertaining to industries, commercial establishments and finally domestic consumers, he said.
“We have placed an order for 7.5 lakh smart meters. We have already installed smart meters for the feeders, started installations for DTCs and also for government. We will complete installation of 20,000 smart meters in the next two weeks,” he said.
“There are a few people who are objecting to smart meters because of political gains. But people should understand that smart metering gives a lot of insights,” Fernandes said adding that Goa already has electronic meters.
