Salzer Electronics expects to receive certification from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for its three-phase smart energy meter soon.
Addressing a recent earnings call, Rajesh Doraiswamy, Joint Managing Director, Salzer Electronics Ltd, said that BIS certification for the three-phase smart meter is expected by end of June 2024 while the BIS certification for its single-phase smart meter is already in place.
It may be recalled that Salzer Electronics is setting up a smart meter manufacturing facility at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The company was already manufacturing specialized components for smart meters and will now be rolling out and marketing the entire smart meter.
The Coimbatore smart meter facility is currently under trial production and once completed, it will have capacity to manufacture 4 million (40 lakh) smart meters per year, in the first phase. The total investment envisaged in the first phase is around Rs.40 crore.
Discussing the smart meter business, Doraiswamy said that the company was in talks with various customers for long-term tie-ups. Salzer has submitted samples to various potential customers who, in turn, are in the process of evaluating the product and integrating it with their software. The company is hopeful of getting confirmed orders by July this year which is when commercial production could start.
According to Rajesh Doraiswamy, Salzer will sell smart meters to AMISPs (Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Providers) that have received orders under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).
It is further learnt that Salzer Electronics has also received licence as AMISP and is eligible to directly participate in AMISP tenders. The company will keep its options open, and wherever possible, would participate in the tendering process, thereby taking orders directly from discoms, in the capacity of an AMISP.
The current smart metering manufacturing capacity of 4 million units per year, when used fully, could result in revenues of Rs.1,000 crore, Doraiswamy estimated. Once this capacity is completely utilized, the company could go in for doubling of capacity, to around 80 lakh meters per year. Over the next five years, Doraiswamy projected that the company should be able to sell 3-4 crore meters per year.
Smart meter tendering
Meanwhile, according to official government statistics, as of May 28, 2024, a total of 22.22 crore consumer smart meters were sanctioned under various Central government schemes, but mainly including RDSS. Of these, contracts for around 11.63 crore meters were awarded while 1.12 crore smart meters were actually installed, as of the given date. It may be mentioned that while the RDSS mainly includes consumer meters, there are also other meters like feeder meters and DT (distribution transformer) meters, albeit in much smaller numbers.
Also read: Salzer To Put Up Integrated Smart Meter Facility In Tamil Nadu
Featured photograph (source: salzergroup.net) is for representation only