Lucknow, 9 Aug: Since the project’s inception in 2018, the Uttar Pradesh government’s electricity department has installed more than 11 lakh smart metres, said Energy Minister AK Sharma in the assembly on Wednesday. The minister’s data was current as of March 20.
“11.79 lakh smart metres were installed in the state from the start of installation work until March 20, 2023. During this time, 72,846 complaints about the metres were received. Of these complaints, 56,681 were found to be true, and the metres were changed,” he stated in response to Samajwadi Party member Atul Pradhan’s query.
“Of the total 56,681 metres that were changed, 52,250 were out of order, while 4,431 were changed due to other technical reasons,” he said.
In response to a question about whether the metres were causing increased power bills, the minister stated that this was not the case. “The bills are generated on the basis of exact power consumption,” the minister explained. A total of 1,005 complaints were received concerning smart metres running too quickly. 961 of them were confirmed to be in good operating order, while 44 metres that were discovered to be running too fast were replaced.
According to the minister, if any customer raises concerns about the speed with which smart metres operate, check metres are fitted to identify any flaws and the metres are replaced within 15 days.
