Conduct energy audit soon, panel tells UT dept

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, January 14

To understand energy usage and ways to cut electricity costs, the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has directed the UT Electricity Department to conduct an energy audit at the earliest.

No meters at 2,175 transformers

In the compliance report, the UT Electricity Department submitted that of 3,134 feeders, electronic meters had been installed at 465, while 234 meters have been installed at 2,411 transformers. Meters were yet to be installed at 2,669 feeders and 2,175 transformers, stated the department. The department stated the total number of consumers was estimated to be 2,36,654 in the city as per the tariff order of 2022-23.

The energy audit will assess the pattern of energy consumption in the residential as well as commercial buildings and provide a complete assessment on electricity consumption and energy efficiency.

There was a suo motu hearing in order to ascertain and take on record the work done vis-a-vis targets by the Electricity Department towards replacement of mechanical and defective electronic meters and providing meters for unmetered connections and also action plan for such replacement in 2022-23. The commission has observed that all feeders and substation are not metered and directed the department to submit an action plan within 30 days for the installation of required meters and conduct an energy audit at the earliest.

In the compliance report, the department submitted that of 3,134 feeders, electronic meters had been installed at 465 feeders and 234 meters at 2,411 transformers so far. Meters were yet to be installed at 2,669 feeders and 2,175 transformers in the city, stated the department.

The department stated the total number of consumers was estimated to be 2,36,654 in the city as per the tariff order of 2022-23.

The department further submitted that there are no unmetered consumers and the 4,531 defective electronic meters were to be replaced in 2022-23 and meters estimated for new connections were 1,220. They were able to replace 3,952 defective electronic meters and provide 1,561 new connections to consumers in the first and second quarter (from April to September).

The department also submitted that 24,230 smart meters had also been installed in the city. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had shelved the project, under which smart electricity meters were to be installed in the entire city, in October last year.

The Central Government had approved Rs 241 crore in May, 2021, for the installation of smart meters in the city under the smart grid project, but the work on the pilot project could not be completed due to the Covid pandemic.

After several extensions of the deadline, the UT Administration had finally completed the pilot project of installing smart electricity meters in the city in May last year.

Under the project, 24,230 smart meters had been installed in Sectors 29, 31, 47 and 48, Faidan, Ram Darbar, Hallo Majra, Raipur Kalan, Makhan Majra and Daria villages and Industrial Area, Phases I and II. The administration had planned to replace all electricity meters with smart ones in the entire city by the 2022-23 fiscal.

However, with the UT Electricity Department being privatised, the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to halt the installation of smart meters in the remaining parts of the city.

The project for installing smart meters in the entire city was to be approved by the MHA, but the ministry took a U-turn as the UT Electricity Department was being privatised and the firm that would run the department would install the smart meters as per their requirement.

These smart meters do away with the need to manually take meter reading. If someone tampers with these meters, the department immediately gets an alert.

In August 2021, Eminent Electricity Distribution Limited, a subsidiary of CESC Limited — the flagship company of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group — had submitted the highest bid of Rs 871 crore. The amount was five times the reserve price of Rs 174 crore. Later, the Empowered Committee on privatisation of the UT Electricity Department gave its approval to the highest bid quoted by Eminent Electricity Distribution Limited.