The proposal of Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) to replace nearly 26 lakh conventional electricity meters with smart meters under Public Private Participation Mode, has invited strong reaction from HPSEBL Employees.
In a letter written to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the General Secretary of HPSEBL Employees Union Hira Lal Verma has urged the CM to direct the Board to shun the proposal in the larger interest of people of the state.
Verma said, “Despite the disadvantages of the scheme and adverse financial impact on HPSEBL the Board has awarded the work to install smart meters to two private companies to replace meters of all consumers.”
The union said, “The cost of installing smart meters is quite high, around Rs 10000 per meter looks imprudent when nearly 12 lakh consumers are getting 125 units free electricity in the state and the state government had promised to make 300 units free for the consumers .”
Verma said , “ For meeting installation cost of the smart meters of nearly Rs 3100 crore, it would entail extra burden of approximately Rs 100 per month on every consumer for bearing to the cost and would affect the financial position of cash strapped HPSEBL ”.
“Moreover, the Central government would contribute only Rs 393 crore towards the scheme and remaining Rs 2700 crore will either be given by the state government or borne by HPSEBL, putting extra burden on the state’s economy; this would also lead to a large scale retrenchment of the Board employees by handing over the revenue collection job to private companies “, he added.
The union also pointed out that HPSEBL had recently replaced mechanical meters with electronic meters throughout the state and switching over to smart meters would make these redundant and incur extra burden.
Shimla district secretary of CPM Sanjay Chauhan has also opposed the smart meter scheme and said, “The move is a hidden agenda of the Modi government to privatize the state electricity boards under the garb of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) and the state government should shun the scheme failing which CPM would launch a statewide agitation to oppose it.”
