Part 1
Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
On 22 March 2025, a Conference Against Electricity Privatisation and Smart Meters was organized in Nashik (Maharashtra) by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC), along with a few unions of electricity workers, engineers, and officers. Activists of Communist Ghadar Party of India, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI-ML (Red Flag), AITUC, CITU, AISF, Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation, All India Bank Employees Association, and pension associations also participated in the meeting in big numbers.
As per a work order issued by Mahavitaran (Maharashtra Discom) in September 2023, contracts of prepaid smart meters have been given to four private companies: Adani, Genus, Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC), and Montecarlo. In Nashik and Jalgaon districts, NCC has been given a contract for installing 28,86,622 meters worth Rs. 3,461 crores. Smart meters are already being installed in various places in Nashik.
The meeting was addressed by Com. Arun Mhaske of Maharashtra State Electricity Workers Federation (MSEWF), Com. Girish, Joint Secretary of Kamgar Ekta Committee, Com. DL Karad, State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Adv. Abhay Taksal, State Executive Member of the Communist Party of India, Aurangabad, Dr. Sanjeewani, Vice President of the Lok Raj Sangathan and Com. VD Dhanavate, District President of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).
The main points of all the speeches are presented in two parts. The Part 1 covers the speeches of Com. Mhaske, Com. Girish and Com. Karad and the Part 2 presents the speeches of Com. Taksal, Dr. Sanjeewani and Com. Dhanavate.
Com. Arun Mhaske of MSEWF started the meeting by talking about how smart meters are a way to privatise electricity distribution. He explained that smart meters will be installed and maintained for 8-9 years by private companies. These meters will be prepaid, and the rates of power will be decided by private companies. Com. Mhaske noted that the private company Jio first provided free mobile service and later increased rates by 1400%-1500%. This is how privatisation works. Further, private companies will remove subsidies and cross-subsidies that domestic consumers currently get. Thus, electricity will no longer be affordable to poor families. Electricity is a fundamental need. While the government should invest in ways to make electricity accessible and affordable to all, they are instead turning the service of electricity into a business.
Com. Girish, Joint Secretary of the Kamgar Ekta Committee, congratulated electricity workers for organizing the meeting and participating in huge numbers even though they are under immense pressure from the management to not talk about smart meters, with their jobs under threat. However, he expressed that more women should be mobilized for meetings as no struggle will be successful without women’s participation. He provided a brief background of electricity privatisation and the introduction of smart meters.
After the globalization Through liberalization and privatization (LPG) policy of 1991, the first step toward electricity privatization was taken in Maharashtra with the Enron project. At that time, people united in large numbers to fight against privatization. Since then, various governments have taken different steps.
Since 2014 , the Central government has been trying to enable electricity privatisation through the Electricity (Amendment) Bill. However, it has not been able to pass this bill in the parliament owing to the fierce struggle of electricity workers, farmers and citizens. KEC has also been involved in this struggle. Currently, electricity workers are opposing electricity privatisation in Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana, and other states. Considering workers’ and public opposition, governments are adopting backdoor methods of privatisation such as installing smart meters.
Smart meters are prepaid. At present, we first use electricity, and then pay the bill after 4 to 7 weeks. With smart meters, we will first have to pay, and if our recharge is over, power will be disconnected automatically and instantly.
Once smart meters are installed, the Time of Day (ToD) scheme will be implemented. That is, the per-unit cost of power will be lower in the hours of the daytime and higher in the nighttime. The government tells us that this scheme will help us regulate power consumption by using less power in the night and more power in the day. Does this mean we should use tube lights in the day and sit in the dark at night?
Further, the government claims that these are just smart meters, not “prepaid” smart meters. However, all of us know that smart meters can be easily converted to prepaid with just a simple computer command without consumers even knowing about it.
The cost of the meters, which is Rs. 12,000 to 13,000, will be taken from consumers over 8-9 years. That is, we will have to pay around Rs. 110-180 per month in our bill towards the cost of the meter.
The Maharashtra government has given smart meter contracts worth more than Rs. 3000 crores for Nashik and Jalgaon region alone! Notably, the state government is reportedly planning to shut down thousands of schools in rural areas for the lack of Rs. 2000 crores required for their functioning!
We should remember that we are consumers, not customers, of electricity. Customers purchase a service, whereas all working people of the country who are the creators of all the wealth of the country are the real maliks and hence rightful consumers of all the services.
It is important to reject the darkness of smart meters! There have been huge protests of workers and consumers against smart meters in Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and many other places. Only 1% of this news reaches us through the mainstream media.
In 2024, Kamgar Ekta Committee had taken the initiative to launch a booklet on smart meters, which was signed by 46 electricity unions, other workers’ unions, farmers’ unions, and people’s organizations. This booklet has been widely distributed across the country to spread awareness about smart meters.
Maharashtra government’s generation plants have been deliberately neglected over many years, and most of the power is bought from private plants. Now, the government has already started to outsource 329 substations and is planning to hand over hydroelectric power plants, which generate electricity at much lesser cost to private companies. Many private companies have started correspondence with the government of Maharashtra expressing their keen interest in taking over electricity distribution in 16 cities of Maharashtra including Nashik. The plan of installing Prepaid Smart Meters must be looked at in this backdrop.
In addition to privatisation, various public sectors today are facing the common issue of vacancies. There are more than 46,000 vacancies in the three power sector companies of the Maharashtra government, more than 2 lakh vacancies in various banks, and tens of thousands of vacancies in just the Central Railway. The government has deliberately neglected the maintenance of public assets and sectors. In the Kalyan zone of Mahavitaran, new electricity meters worth crores of rupees have been lying unused for 2 years as the management has been planning to install only smart meters.
The government claims that privatisation is necessary because the distribution sector is in loss. However, the largest pending arrears are from big private enterprises like hotels and government departments themselves!
Moreover, agriculture, education, healthcare, safety on the streets in the night are all dependent on electricity. How can we account for these benefits of electricity supply in terms of profit and loss? Should electricity be viewed from the angle of profit at all? No!
It is the government’s responsibility to fulfill citizens’ needs. Moreover, we collectively own the natural resources that are used for power generation, like coal, natural gas, water, sunlight etc.. We cannot let private companies take control of these resources.
Consumers and workers have conducted huge demonstrations in Gadhinglaj, Kolhapur, and Kudal (Sindhudurg), forcing the authorities to stop smart meter installation till further discussion with people. We too must build unity against smart meters and privatisation. Bill collectors present in this meeting have decided that when they go for delivering bills and taking meter readings to consumers’ houses, they will carry leaflets with them informing consumers about the terrible ill effects of smart meters. This is a very good initiative! Workers and consumers must unitedly demand that the government should invest in the power sector to improve its condition, make power rates affordable, immediately fill all vacancies, and regularize temporary workers.
Com. DL Karad, State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said that it is our responsibility and duty to spread awareness about this attack of smart meters. People tend to dismiss it as a workers’ issue. However, building a platform of citizens, consumers, and workers is the need of the hour. Although around 30 lakh workers are part of various unions that have been struggling against privatisation, we have still not been able to organize an effective and united organized force against such attacks.
What has been the direction of the government? More than half of the education sector has been privatized, and other services like healthcare, transport, and now electricity have also been privatized to a large extent. Means of production, services, public assets, public sector units, natural resources and human resources are all being directed toward more and more private profit. These attacks are all the result of a single policy. Thus, the struggles related to these issues are not separate struggles.
The capitalist class uses different means such as military to impose their rule. Wealth is becoming concentrated in the hands of a few. The biggest private companies in India used to earn some hundreds of crores in profit, now they make thousands of crores in profit. At the same time, the real wages of workers are decreasing.
We must build joint forums of workers and oppose the loot and exploitation of human resources. All people’s organizations, such as women’s organizations, dalit organizations, and many more, should be brought together in this fight. We must make renewed efforts to increase the consciousness of our activists and arm them with full knowledge so that they can actively spread it amongst the masses. We have a lot of strength, but we must make full efforts to reach the people. We should organize so well that no one will dare to install smart meters in Nashik!
(Please see Part 2 for details of other speeches)