Smart metering: Chandigarh for hiring agency to implement project

Chandigarh, December 1

To speed up installation of smart meters, the UT Administration will send a proposal to the Union Home Ministry for appointment of an agency to implement the project.

A meeting to review the progress of smart metering rollout in the UT was held under the chairmanship of Union Home Secretary via videoconferencing, which was attended by UT Adviser Dharam Pal, the UT Finance Secretary and the Chief Engineer-cum-Special Secretary (Engineering).

The Union Home Secretary reviewed the progress of ongoing smart metering pilot project concerning 26,000 consumers. The progress in implementation of smart metering project for the remaining 1.84 lakh consumers in the city was also discussed.

The UT Administration has already set a deadline to complete the pilot project for installation of smart electricity meters in the city by March 31 next year. The UT Administration has planned to replace all electricity meters with smart ones in the entire city by the 2022-23 fiscal.

The project was allotted to the government-owned Regional Electricity Corporation in 2018 and was to be completed by June 2020. However, nearly 50 per cent of the work could be completed so far.

Under the pilot project, nearly 26,000 smart meters are to be installed in Sector 29, 31, 47 and 48, Faidan, Ram Darbar, Hallo Majra, Raipur Kalan, Makhan Majra and Daria villages and the Industrial Area. — TNS