On August 17, 2021, the Ministry of Power has notified the following timelines for the replacement of existing meters with smart meters with prepayment feature:
- All consumers (other than agricultural consumers) in areas with communication network, shall be supplied electricity with Smart Meters working in prepayment mode, conforming to relevant IS, as per Central Electricity Authority (Installation and Operation of Meters) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019.
- All Union Territories, electrical divisions having more than 50% consumers in urban areas with AT&C losses more than 15% in financial year 2019-20, other electrical divisions with AT&C losses more than 25% in financial year 2019-20, all Government offices at Block level and above, and all industrial and commercial consumers, shall be metered with smart meters with prepayment mode by December, 2023.
*Tanvi Singh, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.