Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), has signed an MoU with New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to replace 75,000 conventional electricity meters with smart meters, which will enhance consumer convenience and rationalise electricity consumption in the Capital.
As per the MoU, EESL will fund, build, operate and manage the smart metering solution implementation in the project area. EESL will select a system integrator to implement the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project within six months, integrating it with NDMC IT legacy applications.
Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL said, “Smart meters will enable consumers to monitor their consumption pattern and the corresponding cost, leading them to adapt their energy use and reduce power wastage, providing long-term carbon and financial savings. The meters will also provide an accurate and real-time information about energy use, enabling them to make informed decisions about their energy behaviour.”
How it works
EESL is procuring smart meters, as well as services of the system integrator with 100 per cent investment, enabling utilities to benefit from smart meters with zero upfront financial investment. NDMC’s repayment to EESL will be through the monetization of energy savings, resulting from enhanced billing accuracy, avoided meter reading costs and other efficiencies. This includes the immediate elimination of the cost of meter readings. These savings further enable NDMC to invest in value-added services for its consumers.
The benefit
NDMC will benefit from enhanced consumer satisfaction level resulting from better complaint management, faster restoration of outages, and awareness of optimised consumption pattern, and improvement in system stability, reliability and transparency.
NMDC’s large-scale adoption of smart meters is a significant measure towards future-ready technologies. Smart meters pave the way for the smart grid as they enable two-way real-time communication between discoms and consumers through GPRS technology. Smart meter data can ensure faster outage detection and swift restoration of service.
Implementing smart meters is one of the operational performance parameters under the Government of India’s Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY). The scheme would help in reducing AT&C losses. It will also help in monitoring of round the clock power supply eventually leading to greater efficiency and offer a pathway to meeting the government’s vision of 24X7 Power for All.
EESL’s mandate
Under its Smart Meters National Programme (SMNP), EESL aims to replace 25 crore conventional meters with smart meters in India. EESL started its first AMI project and shall deploy 5 million smart meters in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The first on-ground project has already started in Varanasi.
Photo Caption: The MoU was signed by Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL (in black waistcoat) and Naresh Kumar, IAS, Chairman, NDMC in the presence of Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of Power (in centre)
