Tata Power-DDL Eyes 100% Consumption on Smart Meters In The Next Five Years
In a bid to enhance energy conservation and reduce carbon emissions, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) is targeting 100 per cent of its consumption on smart meters in their licensed area in Delhi over the next five years, subject to approval. The National Tariff Policy, 2016 mandated deployment of smart meters to consumers with monthly consumption of over 200 units by Distribution Licensees, and in line with the policy, TPDDL installed 2.45 lakh smart meters across consumer segments.
Dwijadas Basak, Chief of Customer Experience, Commercial and Social Innovation Group, Tata Power while talking to BW Businessworld said that smart meters are now emerging as prospective game changers in the power industry. “They are not only playing an important role in refining customer service but are also laying the foundation for new and innovative business models,” he added.
Benefits for Consumers
He pointed that the most important benefit of smart meters is that Distribution Companies (DISCOMS) get an opportunity to engage with their consumers as it has the ability to empower consumers by providing them full control of their electricity consumption. “For the consumers, they get remote meter reading, better energy usage management, improved billing and collection efficiency, better network management, reduced AT&C losses, and easy bill payments,” he said.
He also mentioned that smart meters enable outage and low power factor alerts which results in faster outage management and at the same time consumers will not only avoid inaccurate bills but can also have the ability to better manage their monthly bills by managing their consumption in real-time.
Reduces Carbon Footprints
He also explained that with smart metering the operational cost on meter reading and disconnection/reconnection gets reduced significantly. Regular activities like re-programming of meters, monthly meter reading, and disconnection/reconnections process become system drive and over the air which reduces visits to customer premises and in turn, reduces carbon footprints.
The government in recent years has been pushing for investment in smart, two-way grids, micro-grids, efficient storage solutions, and smart meters to bring about a green energy revolution in India. In December 2018, the Union Ministry of Power decided to make all existing meters smart in 3 years from 1st April 2019 under the Smart Meter National Programme. The programme is being implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a Joint Venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power. As of date, EESL has installed over 13.2 lakh smart meters in Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Haryana, and Bihar under this programme.
