Implementation in phased manner from 2025-26; Tender process initiated, opening next week
PANAJI
More than two years after the Union Ministry for Power sanctioned Rs 467 crore smart metering project for Goa, the State, after initial delay, is all set to replace existing electronic power meters with smart meters for 7.5 lakh consumers from the coming fiscal – 2025-26 onwards. The project will be implemented in a phased manner for over two and half years.
According to the Electricity Department, the smart meters function on a real-time basis and record and store all electrical parameters such as consumption of energy, voltage and current levels, etc. The data will be used by the department for billing, to monitor power quality, load scheduling, demand management and fault analysis.
As per the data released by the Union Ministry, Goa is one amongst few States whose progress on smart meters, distribution transformer meters (DTM) and feeder meters installation is Nil. The Ministry has sanctioned smart meters to around 7, 41, 160 consumers while 8,369 DTM and 827 feeder meters.
Under the Revamped Distribution Scheme (RDS), Goa’s initial target date for implementation of smart electricity meters was March 2023, which was later extended to March 2024.
Speaking to The Goan, Chief Electrical Engineer (CCE) Stephen Fernandes said that the smart meter tender is floated and it’s due for opening next week. “The work order to the successful bidder would be issued in another two months’ time and the implementation will commence from the next financial year,” he said.
Fernandes said that the work order will be issued to replace electronic meters across all 7.5 lakh consumers but the implementation will be done in a phased manner. “I agree that there was a delay but we were waiting for some big States to implement it, to understand consumers’ response and other initial hiccups,” he explained.
The CCE said that the project, which is an all-India initiative, has already been implemented in 10-15 States and we were able to study the issues faced by them and the consumers. “Taking all that into consideration, we have floated the tender,” he said.
Fernandes said that the meters will improve the system stability, reliability and transparency and also optimise operating and maintenance expenses of the Electricity Department.
“Manual meter reading is not required and auto generation of bills is possible,” he said.
