According to the Ministry of Power, the Electricity Regulatory Commissions of the states will be given the facility to extend this system twice in special circumstances for selected customers and areas. But both the times this exemption will not exceed six months.
The Ministry of Power has fixed the time limit for installation of prepaid meters for all types of electricity customers except for agricultural purposes. Under this, majority of electricity customers will have to switch to smart prepaid meters by December 2023, states will have to switch over to a maximum of December 2024 in special circumstances and by March 2025 for customers in the remaining areas. In a notification issued on Thursday, the ministry has said that the prepaid meters will be supplied to all types of customers except agricultural works in the areas where communication is accessible across the country.
According to the notification of the Ministry, all the Union Territories will have to adopt Smart Prepaid Meters by December 2023. Electricity areas which have more than 50 percent urban subscribers and where the total technical and commercial power loss in the financial year 2019-20 is more than 15 percent, it is also targeted to be connected with smart prepaid meters by the same period. Then, in other power zones where the total technical and commercial power loss during the same financial year is more than 25 percent, it will be mandatory to complete the installation of smart meters by December 2023. Apart from these, all government departments and industrial and commercial customers at block level and above will have to adopt prepaid smart electricity meters by this date.
According to the Ministry of Power, the Electricity Regulatory Commissions of the states will be given the facility to extend this system twice in special circumstances for selected customers and areas. But both the times this exemption will not exceed six months. This means that customers under state electricity regulatory commissions will also have to switch to smart meters by December 2024. The period for installation of smart prepaid electricity meters in all other areas has been kept as March, 2025. However, the State Regulatory Commissions of the areas where communication system has not been accessible so far will take a decision in this regard.
