New Delhi: After achieving the distinction of becoming the state with highest number of smart meters (11.5 lakh), UP is gearing-up to install another 2.85 crore smart meters. For the ambitious project, the state has floated four-tender documents with a cumulative estimated value of Rs 23,000 crore.
The tender has attracted interest from large Indian corporates like the Adani Group, GMR, L&T, and IntelliSmart, who have submitted bids for Uttar Pradesh's (UP) ambitious smart metering project. While ADANI, GMR and L&T have submitted bids for the tenders of PVNL, MVNL, DNVL and PuVNL, IntelliSmart has done so for PVNL and MVNL.
The last date for its submission of the tender document was October 17, 2022. The meters are to be installed in 27 months. The project is being undertaken under the Centre's ambitious Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). Apart from installing smart meters, the project is also for setting up meter data management, cloud computing, billing and communication systems for the state's four distribution companies.
Of the 2.8 crore smart meters being planned, DVNL's tender for installing 79.16 lakh smart meters at an estimated cost of Rs 4576.11 crore is the biggest. This was followed by PuVNL's tender for installing 77.50 lakh smart meters at an estimated of cost of Rs 7452.67 crore. This is followed by tenders of PVNL and MVNL for 66.84 lakh (Rs 5517.77 crore) 61.73 lakh (5454.86 crore) smart meters respectively. Around 25 crore meters to be replaced under RDSS.
The RDSS aims to enhance the operational efficiency and financial health of all government owned Power Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) by FY 2025-26.
Apart from other objectives, the scheme aims at lowering of AT&C losses to 12-15 per cent by 2024-25 nationally and Lowering of the ACS-ARR gap to zero by 2024-25. A key ingredient of the scheme meeting the ambitious objectives of RDSS is Centre's Rs 3.3 lakh crore plan to replace all 25 crore traditional meters in the country with pre-paid smart meters.
The outlay includes an estimated Government Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs 97,631 crore. REC and PFC have been nominated as nodal agencies for facilitating the implementation of the scheme.
In the first phase, 10 crore meters are to be replaced in 'priority areas' (high loss, high value consumers) by December 2023. Meters in remaining areas will be replaced by March 2025.
According to the data available, the highest numbers of smart meters have been installed in UP (1156855) , followed by Bihar (1108703), Rajasthan (555958), Haryana (538293), Assam (415063), Delhi (259094), MP (243313), HP (147104), TN (123945) and J&K (113857).
Under RDSS, prepaid smart metering and system metering are proposed to be implemented through PPP on TOTEX (CAPEX+OPEX) mode. For Prepaid Smart metering, a grant of Rs 900 or 15 per cent of the cost per consumer meter (whichever is lower), shall be available for "Other than Special Category" States. For "Special Category" States, the grant of Rs 1350 or 22.5 per cent of the cost per consumer (whichever is lower) shall be available.