‘Not a smart move’: Himachal power board staff on new meters

Shimla, July 4

The employees’ union of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) has urged Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to withdraw the decision to replace all 26 lakh power meters in the state with smart meters.

The decision to switch to smart meters was taken at the HPSEBL Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday. “The decision is neither in the interest of HPSEBL, nor the state. These meters should be installed on need basis and in a phased manner,” the union wrote to the Chief Minister.

HL Verma, secretary of the HPSEBL Employees’ Union, said around 12 lakh consumers got ‘zero bill’, as they consumed less than 125 units of power.

These much power units are free for consumers. “What’s the rationale behind installing smart meters costing around Rs 10,000 in a household consuming less than 125 free units of power,” asked Verma.

“Isn’t an electronic meter costing just around Rs 500 a better choice for such consumers?” he added.

Verma claimed that the financial bid of around Rs 3,100 crore had been received for smart metering, which is way higher than the proposed DPR of Rs 1,788 crore. “The budgetary support from the Centre would be only around Rs 393 crore, subject to certain conditions. Now, the remaining Rs 2,700 crore will have to be borne by either the state government or the HPSEBL consumers,” Verma claimed. The union further wrote that presently HPSEBL was not in a position to bear such needless expenditure.

“The board is reeling under financial hardships, and its losses have reached Rs 3,100 crore. Such is the financial distress that arrears and other claims of the HPSEBL pensioners and employees are on hold. This decision will further deteriorate the financial position of the board, and put an additional burden on consumers of about Rs 125 per month,” said Verma.

The union further pointed out that HPSEBL had recently replaced mechanical meters with electronic meters throughout the state. “Now, the move to shift to smart meters will turn these recently installed electronic meters into scrap, and unnecessary expenditure will have to be made to dispose of this scrap,” said Verma.