Bihar Races Against Heatwave Deadline: Energy Secretary Directs Smart Meter Completion by May
Pal Orders Urgent Repairs of Faulty Meters, Warns of No Post-May Shutdowns as Power Demand Peaks;
Energy Secretary cum Chairman-cum-Managing Director of BSPHCL Shri Pankaj Kumar Pal reviewed the progress of work by holding a meeting with top officials of smart metering agencies. During the meeting, he directed that non-communicating meters should be repaired soon and the process of replacing all faulty meters should be completed without delay.
In the meeting, he emphasized that in view of the rising temperature and forecasted demand, distribution companies must complete the work of installing 33 kV and 11 kV feeders and DT meters by the first week of May. He clarified that after mid-May, shutdown for this work will not be possible in view of the extreme increase in temperature and power needs of consumers.
In the meeting, the work being done by EESL, Genus, IntelliSmart, Adani Power, Secure Meters, Hyprint, NCC agencies was evaluated. Strict instructions were given to reduce the number of disconnected and non-communicating meters. Along with this, Mr. Pal emphasized on expediting the process of new connections, effectively completing the plan of transformer and feeder metering and increasing the workforce.
Apart from this, the Energy Secretary also directed the officials of both the distribution companies to inspect the premises of non-communicating smart prepaid meter consumers. Along with this, instructions were given to ensure adequate availability of smart prepaid meters to give immediate connection to new applications.
The Energy Secretary asked to start the connection of recharge consumers immediately so that they do not face any inconvenience.
Managing Director of North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited Dr. Nilesh Ramchandra Devre; Managing Director of South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited Mr. Mahendra Kumar; Senior officers of both the distribution companies were present in the meeting and Superintending Engineers of all the zones and Executive Engineers of divisions were also connected through video conferencing.