Srinagar, May 15: Power Development Department (PDD) on Monday said that 100 percent coverage of smart meters will be done in next 2 years across Kashmir Valley.

Chief Engineer PDD, Javed Yousuf Dar said that the government is mulling to provide 24×7 electricity to its consumers and in this regard 100 percent coverage of smart meters will be done in next 2 years across Kashmir Valley.

“It is a policy decision of Government of India to replace conventional meters with smart meters. We have installed 1 lac smart meters in different parts of Kashmir valley so far,” CE PDD said.

He said, “In conventional meters there was an issue of fetching reading manually which gets submitted to sub-division. It is however a hectic procedure for the department as it consumes good number of manpower and energy. Now these conventional meters will be replaced by smart meters which will be a transparent exercise. Yhe bills will be generated automatically forthwith,” he said.

CE PDD said during installation process the officials of the department faced stiff resistance in several areas however the locals were convinced and meters installed with the help of police and civil administration. “In coming 2 years, 100 percent coverage of smart meters will be ensured,” he said.

“The installation of SMs will hugely benefit our distribution company. The PDD is mulling to provide 24×7 electricity to its consumers which is possible only with the installation of smart meters,” he said and added, “In coming years curtailment time either be ended or reduced”.

He also added that SMs are same as conventional meters and the only difference lies with data collection. “It reading directly reaches to our data center which unlike past lessens the work of field staff,” he said.

He further added apart from protests I few areas, many localities approached PDD to install smart meters for uninterrupted power supply.

To a query, the CE PDD said that the department received several complaints of meter tempering, however due to alertness such attempts were foiled without any delay. He said it has come to our notice that some elements are befooling innocent consumers and assuring them about meter tempering in lieu of monetary benefits. “I want to make people aware of this fact that any attempt of tempering instantly alerts our data centre. I urge to people don’t come under influence of such elements,” he maintained.

“As per directions of the central government the smart meters onwards be installed in a pre-paid mode,” he added. kns