Vadodara: The city of Vadodara recently witnessed lot of complains regarding new Smart Meters installed by Gujarat government run power distribution firm MGVCL. When gone into depth, it looks like the whole issue is due to huge misunderstanding prevailing among consumers. The issue appears like a teething trouble. The consumers are not explained enough for smooth rollout. The adaptability is fine for most consumers, but for many others, the fear, the mistrust, the lack of understanding is quite prevalent. The points below explain the new Smart meter system and why it is misunderstood.

-In order to avoid any doubt in the minds of the people, in every cluster of 100 Smart meters, 5 old meters (Check meters) are also be installed on random basis which are also connected to the new pre-paid meters so that the readings can be compared. Thus in five percent cases comparative data of old and Smart meters are available.

– In the houses where new meters have been installed under the pilot project, for the convenience of those housemates, the usage of the old meter was not settled at that time and after bringing it to the notice of the housemates, the unsettled old-meter usage charge was divided in 180 days. It was then added to the usage of the new meter on a daily basis, due to which people wondered as they felt, how come so much extra usage was noted?

-In pre-paid meters, there is a provision that the customer will have to charge the meter in advance, just like a mobile phone, and if his usage exceeds Rs 300 more than the pre-paid amount, his electricity will not be cut. So the customer will get Rs. 300 credit on expiry of pre-paid charging amount. But after Rs. 300 credit worth power is used, the power will be cut after five days(grace period), and power will restore automatically after recharging the connection.

-In a viral video, a woman in Vadodara can be seen complaining that her power bill has more than doubled after installation of Smart meters. The reality of this case as revealed by MGVCL official, is that after using the charged amount, the woman crossed the limit of Rs 300(credit above her charged amount) and 5 days of grace period also passed and then there were public holidays for 3 days. According to the rules electricity was not cut off on holidays. Later when the power cut off, the lady consumer went to the sub-division office to get recharge done and restoration of but out of the recharge of Rs 1500, she could not access the power worth Rs 300 credited amount + access usage charge for 8 days, in which electricity was not disconnected despite crossing the limit. So the amount on these counts was deducted immediately. Now due to lack of information she felt that she was charged higher. When she was explained about same by MGVCL officials, she realized what happened, but meanwhile a video of her ranting against Smart meters went viral.

-Smart meters are already installed and implemented successfully in Bihar, Assam and Andhra Pradesh, Noida among other places. Smart meters have also been successful in Surat, where they were first installed in GEB colony area and later in Pal area.

-Tejas Parmar, MD of MGVCL said the first smart meter was installed in his own home. He also attached a Check meter a day ago alongside the Smart meter, and he found that the counts of smart meter and check meter were same. Parmar says Smart meters don’t give higher bill. The only difference between smart meter and old meter on consumer-side is the payment mode. Earlier a consumer would get post-paid bills per two months. Now the mode is pre-paid.

-Parmar explained the case of lady in viral video who complained that she got Rs. 2,000 bill in 12 days. Parmar says the lady in viral video has given false figure of Rs. 2,000 bill in 12 days period. Smart meter was installed at this lady’s home on 2nd May. Upto 14 May, the bill was Rs. 836, out of which Rs. 723 was on account of her consumption at standard rates. The rest billed amount of Rs. 113 was from her previous billing cycle’s 3rd month, meaning the usage of old meters. Previous charges are divided in 180 days and security deposit money is also adjusted. So suppose if the previous billed amount was Rs. 2,000, then we don’t ask consumer to pay it at one go. So in such case it would be Rs. 11 per day bill added to current usage. So in this case the old pending amount was Rs. 113 and therefore the total bill was Rs. 836. It was not at all Rs. 2,000 for 12 days.

-As MGVCL gives Rs. 300 credit, if consumer charge the Smart meter on the first day, Rs. 300 credit would not be required and therefore the bill will not reflect minus Rs. 300 on first charge.

– If the old two-month bill was Rs. 2500, it will be same in case of smart meters but in pre-paid mode, and also if consumption remains same. In old-meter system, a consumer would need to pay post-paid bill for two months cycle in ten days or face delay charge. In the new system, a consumer can check daily usage and get to know about his/her consumption pattern and can pay on pre-paid recharge basis.

– Old and new meters work on same principle. The rates are same. In smart meters system, the data is stored and sent to software through GPRC or radio frequency. A consumer casn see it. If balance is zero, the consumer can still get power worth Rs. 300 credit. Then disconnection process is started. The difference in old and new meters is that the disconnection and reconnection process can be done automatically remotely.

– There’s a misconception that not agreeing for installation of smart meter can result into penalty. But the government has as per its 2021 guideline, given a target to cover all power consumers under Smart meters system in next two years. All barring agriculture connection will be under Smart meters system in next two years.

स्मार्ट मीटर का विरोध क्यों ??

किसी भी समाज में जब कोई बदलव होता है तो लोग उसे बहुत ही ज्यादा रेजिस्टेंस के साथ स्वीकार करते हैं, क्योंकि पुराने सिस्टम की आदत कुछ इस कदर लग जाती है की नयी व्यवस्था को अपनाने से हम परहेज करने लगते हैं ..ऐसा ही कुछ इन दिनों गुजरात में बिजली विभाग… pic.twitter.com/Vn15TP2V6b

— Nirnay Kapoor (@nirnaykapoor) May 18, 2024

-So far MGVCL has not covered solar power consumers under Smart meters system due to complicated calculations of export and import of units, however in future in phased manner, even solar power consumers will be covered under Smart meters system. 70,000 consumers in Vadodara have solar roof tops. Half of them enjoy zero bills, and some of them even get credit for more export of units than import.

-MGVCL at present suffers about 8 to 10 percent power loss. 2-3 percent of that can be attributed as technical loss due to the length of line, but in many cases, power theft burdens the power company. With installation of smart meters, we can check daily consumption data and get to know about the pattern on daily basis. This provides insight on possible cases of power theft. A residential society from where protestors came to protest against Smart meters was checked and power theft case was unearthed from there recently.

-Same agency that manufactured old meters, is into making of new Smart meters. Testing is also done in same way for both kinds of meters. Standards are followed in same way. Each government building will have smart meter by March 2025. MGVCL has installed 27,000 meters already and in last two months, 15,000 have installed app. Over 16,000 of them have not faced even a single disconnection. 9,408 disconnections are noticed, and reconnection took place when the recharged. Positive balance can be seen in case of over 18,000 connections. The process of smart meters is going on for last two months.

-No advance money or extra charge is collected for installation of Smart meters. Security deposit of Rs. 8,000 which was levied for installation of old meters will be returned to consumers of Smart meters.

-Minimum recharge to be done to MGVCL in case of Smart meters consumers is Rs. 100. DeshGujarat