APDCL installs six lakh smart meters in Assam

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: APDCL (Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd) has installed around six lakh smart meters in the state. The company is still to install 52 lakh smart meters. The installation of smart meters is going on in full swing in the state.

According to an APDCL source, the company installs pre-paid smart meters for consumers with pre-paid setups and post-paid smart meters for consumers with post-paid setups. According to the official, Guwahati and Dibrugarh had around 30,000 smart meters installed before the start of the project. "We have procured 10 lakh smart meters and installed around 5.5 lakh. We will procure 10 lakh more smart meters after the installation of the remaining around 4.5 lakh smart meters. Our target is to instal smart meters with 58 lakh power consumers in the state by March 31, 2025. We will meet the target. The project for the installation of smart meters has an estimated amount of Rs 4,536 crore," he said.

The source said that consumers are at liberty to shift from a post-paid mode to a pre-paid mode of metering and vice versa.

APDCL started the conversion of all the existing low-tension post-paid connections, having electricity supplied through smart meters, into pre-paid connections, with effect from January 1, 2023, in phases.