THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Centre is silent on the application submitted by KSEB and the state government to implement smart meters on their own. The Centre has proposed a 'Total Expenditure' (TOTEX) model. If implemented under this model, the Centre will allocate Rs 4,000 crore to Kerala to modernise the transmission system.

Kerala's stance is that the same amount be disbursed for the project it has devised.

KSEB is implementing the first phase of the smart meter project from May. Three lakh smart meters will be installed.

If it is as per the project devised by the Centre, an outside agency will have to spend its own money to install the smart meter and its software, maintain it for five years and charge the cost through service charges.

The project being implemented in Kerala is where the smart meter and software are purchased at cost and KSEB employees bring them and install them.

The central subsidy will be available only if the project is implemented according to the model proposed by the centre. Also, 15 percent of the amount would have also been available as a grant for installing smart meters.

Conflict in the projects

The centre has proposed to install 37 lakh smart meters each in the first and second phases in Kerala and the rest in the third phase. The total required is 1.25 crore meters.

The designated agency will install the meters and software at their own expense and hand them over to KSEB.

KSEB is targeting to implement just three lakh meters in the first phase. This itself will take one and a half years. The first package, which includes smart meters, its communication network and related software, has been awarded to a consortium consisting of Iskrameco India Private Limited and Ramalingam Construction Company Limited for Rs 160.9 crore. They will provide technical training to KSEB employees.

The second package, which includes MDMS software and integration, has been awarded to a company called Esyasoft for Rs 4.45 crore. The first batch of smart meters has been instructed to be delivered in May.

3.5 lakh crore project

In the Union Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 3.5 lakh crore project for the modernisation and upgrading of the country's electricity sector.

The centre is implementing the 'Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme' (RDSS), which includes the smart meter project for electricity distribution. Other states have gone far ahead in implementing this.