Smart electricity meter project moving in the dark in Bangalore

It’s the age of the smart, from smart moves, smart homes, to smart power utilities. But Bangalore may have to wait for smart meters and smart power grids to make living better.

The country’s power ministry plans to provide electricity to every household by 2012  at an investment of over $100 billion in new generation, transmission, distribution and rural electric infrastructure.

To achieve this goal, electricity generation and distribution capacity will need to be increased.

And smart meters contribute much as the state tries to build its power generation capacity. Smart grids and smart meters are effective methods of controlling the usage of power by the producers and the consumers.

However, it will take a few more years even before a pilot project is launched in Bangalore. The delay, according to experts and officials, is due to lack of political will and fear of loss of privacy.

The concept of smart meters was proposed on June 24, 2009. And now after almost a year, the government is yet to promote it among officials and to start the pilot project in Electronic City. According to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) officials, the Rs36 crore project will take another 36 months or so to be introduced.

“It has been over a year and the project has not moved forward. Some officials fear that their privacy will be lost once this is introduced as the amount of power being used and the number of appliances will be known,” source said.

The first presentation on the concept was made in May, 2009. It was then the department planned a pilot study and a proposal was sent to Union ministry of power for approval.

The department is appointing US Aid consultants to survey the area where it has to be introduced and work out the financial details.

After this, a detailed project will be prepared and submitted to the Centre for approval, before the project hits the ground. Then it will take over 36 months to complete the pilot project in Electronic City, said an official.

“There is an efficient system to manage the load during peak hours in some places. But it is still in preliminary stages in Karnataka,” said energy committee chairman at KFCCI, MG Prabhakar.

“It is sad that the government is still dithering about it even after a year. In the UK through this over, they have saved 20% energy and in New Delhi, 15% energy has been saved. This bold initiative is yet to start in Electronic City as a pilot project. The government ought to speed up the process,” Prabhakar added.

Speaking to DNA, Bescom managing director Tushar Girinath said that the project on pilot basis in Electronic City would start by 2013-14. He was, however, unable to explain the reasons for the delay.

An international conference on Smart Energy India is scheduled to be held in New Delhi from January 31 to February 2, 2011.
One hopes that the authorities will wake up and take bold decisions to inculcate smart ideas and learn some at the conference.