CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, April 30: Genus Infrastructure Limited has purchased 3.50 Lakh prepaid smart meters, of which 30,000 will be installed in the urban areas i.e., Upper Bazaar and Main Road from the first week of June. The contract to install these meters has been provided by Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL).
The process of selecting the software company is currently under process. Accenture and Fluent Grid, the companies that prepared the electricity bill last time, are in contention.
K.K. Verma, Chief Engineer of JBVNL spoke to lagatar24.com and said that these smart prepaid meters are going to make billing a lot easier than the current method of door-to-door meter reading.
“The consumer will need to do a recharge in advance just like the prepaid sim in phones. This is a way to save us from losses, energy theft and loss of revenue. We are planning to install the 3.50 lakh prepaid meters by the end of this year,” he said.
The smart prepaid meters will have necessary technical specifications and will also have software to protect them from getting hacked by hackers.
In the first phase which will begin from June first week, smart prepaid meters will be installed in the main road and upper market areas of Ranchi for about 30,000 commercial consumers.
