THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State government abandons electricity smart meter despite knowing they will lose central assistance worth crores of rupees. With this, the huge financial responsibility undertaken by KSEB for renovation will be on the shoulders of the people. In addition, the Center will cut the state's borrowing capacity by Rs 4,000 crore, further exacerbating the state's financial crisis. The opposition of the unions was the main reason for abandoning the smart meter. Kerala is the only state to abandon smart meters implemented by the central government across the country as part of modernization. The directive was given in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
12,131 crore allocated by the Center with 60 percent funding for power distribution modernization (Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme- RDSS) will not be available anymore. The renovation works initiated by KSEB, expecting this funding, will be stalled. Otherwise, the amount will have to be raised on its own. KSEB will also be ineligible for the 13126 crore rupees requested for the second phase of this.
Two weeks ago, the CPM Politburo, in which the Chief Minister also participated, had suggested abandoning smart meters immediately. It has been alleged that smart meters will lead to the privatization of the electricity sector and will impose additional financial burdens on the public. Even though there is no opposition to RDSS, it also is being abandoned knowing that the central government will not allow RDSS to be implemented without smart meters.
Smart meter
Smart meter is a digital metering device that can be used to charge and control electricity from the KSEB office, just like charging a mobile phone SIM card, instead of an electro-mechanical meter that records the amount of electricity consumed. It was decided to provide smart meters to 37 lakh consumers in the state in the first phase.
Union Opposition
Organizations say that the TOTEX model, where a private company installs a smart meter at full cost and charges the consumers back as electricity charges, is not acceptable. It is argued that KSEB itself should build smart meters in public sector institutions like C-DAC. An expert committee appointed by the state government has given a report that this is impractical. C-Dac does not know the technology for this. They too will have to rely on the private sector and KSEB cannot bear the financial burden.
RDSS