Over 17 crore smart meters have been sanctioned so far for nationwide deployment under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), a government release said.
The release said that 17,34,39,869 (or 17.34 crore or 173 million) prepaid smart meters have been sanctioned across 23 states covered by 40 state government-owned discoms, till around December 27, 2022.
Similarly, a total of 4.38 lakh feeder meters and 49.03 lakh DT (distribution transformer) meters have been sanctioned as of the same date.
The total estimated cost for all the above types of meters stands at around Rs.1,15,494 crore (or Rs.1.15 lakh crore).
It may be mentioned that prepaid smart metering is a crucial component under the RDSS and envisages an outlay of Rs.1.50 lakh crore inclusive of gross budgetary support (GBS) of Rs.0.23 lakh crore.
Along with the prepaid smart metering for consumers, system metering at feeder and DT level with communicating feature along with associated advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has also been envisaged under RDSS.
The metering initiative will be implemented under the TOTEX mode, which is a combination of the OPEX and CAPEX modes of funding.
Speaking of the volume of prepaid smart metering at the consumer level, the quantum of meters sanctioned in relation to the total number of meters envisaged under RDSS currently stands at around 70 per cent.
Loss Reduction Works
The release also mentioned that loss reduction works worth Rs.1.05 lakh crore have been sanctioned in a total of 23 states/UTs. This includes works to be undertaken by project management agencies. Further, a total of Rs.2,664 crore has been released as GBS towards loss reduction works, under RDSS. Loss reduction works mainly includes replacement of bare conductor with AB cable, HVDS systems, feeder bifurcation, etc.
Meanwhile, system strengthening, which is also envisaged under RDSS, entails creation of new substations, feeders, upgradation of transformation capacity, cables etc. Further, modernization works under RDSS include SCADA, DMS, IT/OT, ERP, GIS enabled applications, ADMS etc. to make to make distributions systems smarter.
The principal objective of RDSS is reduction of AT&C losses (at pan-India level) to 12-15 per cent by FY25, and completely eliminating the ACS-ARR gap by FY25.
Also read: RDSS Can Radically Transformer Metering Industry: Genus Power
RDSS: A Background
The Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) aims to help discoms improve their operational efficiencies and financial sustainability by providing result-linked financial assistance to discoms to strengthen supply infrastructure, based on meeting pre-qualifying criteria and achieving basic minimum benchmarks. RDSS has an outlay of Rs.3.04 lakh crore over FIVE years – FY22 up to FY26. The outlay includes an estimated GBS of around Rs.0.98 lakh crore. Almost half of the total outlay of RDSS will be directed towards prepaid smart metering.
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