Report of Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
Under the Advanced Metering Infrastructure initiative, across the country, including in Uttar Pradesh, the task of purchasing, installing, reading, maintaining, and operating smart prepaid meters has been handed over to private companies called AMISPs (Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Providers). Using funds from the central government’s RDSS scheme, these private companies have purchased meters worth hundreds of crores of rupees and have been given complete control.
Uttar Pradesh Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukta Sangharsh Samiti has stated that the smart prepaid meter system operated by private companies is not in the best interest of consumers. It has become a means of profiting for private companies.
The convener of the Sangharsh Samiti, Shri Shailendra Dubey, has demanded that an immediate high-level inquiry should be conducted into the current system related to smart prepaid metering, all metering work should be taken back from private companies and given under departmental control, and a transparent and consumer-friendly system should be ensured.
The Samiti reported that problems such as frequent technical glitches, incorrect billing, power supply disruptions despite recharges, and gross negligence in resolving complaints have become commonplace with smart meters installed in the state. Due to the recharge-based system, poor and middle-strata consumers are facing frequent power outages. Most of the problems arising from the current system are the result of flaws in the functioning of these private service providers.
The Samiti has demanded that consumer complaints should be resolved promptly, independent inspection of already installed meters should be conducted, and the process of installing smart prepaid meters by private companies should be immediately stopped.
The Samiti stated that when a fundamental system like metering is in such disarray, the decision to hand over the entire power system to private hands would prove even more disastrous for the state. This is not only against the interests of consumers but also poses a serious threat to the state’s energy security. Therefore, the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to privatize power distribution should be reversed.