Smart Meter : No
Pending Payments ?
=========================
Writing in Economic Times ( 08 Dec
/ Govt to rope in Telcos for Smart Meter Connectivity ) , Nishtha Saluja
, describes a “ Smart Meter “ as follows
:
“ A smart meter is a new kind of Electricity meter that can
automatically send meter readings to the power supplier for billing and help
consumers better understand their energy usage “
On same day , Hindustan Times carried a news report
titled :
“ Centre, States to implement DBT scheme
in power sector “
Power Minister, Shri R K Singh said :
“ There is no such thing as free
electricity . Any subsidy you want to give to any category of consumers, it has
to be direct benefit transfer ( DBT ) .
That is something which we have agreed. We will bring it into the law .
To improve efficiency and reduce losses,
the Union and the State governments will be leveraging
technology for 100 % metering and doing away with any human interface in consumer facing functions such as
metering , billing and collections
These steps will require amendments in
the Electricity Act of 2003 “
Now , this statement must be viewed in the context of
what Shri Narendra Modi said while
launching “ Saubhagya “ scheme , a few
weeks ago , viz :
“Named Saubhagya, which means “good luck” in Hindi, the
scheme’s mission is to ensure all Indians have electricity by the end of 2018.
This will involve the
electrification of more than 40 million households and is estimated
to cost approximately $2.5 billion USD.”
Congratulations , Shri
Singh !
But , if you really want to “ DO AWAY WITH ANY HUMAN INTERFACE “ , I urge
you to ensure that those “ Smart
Meters “ that you plan to install at those 40 million households , conform to the following “ Specifications “ :
*
It will be a Tablet look-alike device
· It
will show daily – weekly – monthly , power consumption of the premises
· It
will show the “ average / highest / lowest “ monthly consumption
· It
will also show how many UNITS remain to his BALANCE , at any given time
· It
will show a GRAPH comparing consumptions during any two “ periods “
· It
will have facility to enter ( type in ) , customer’s Aadhar Number ( of course, linked
to his Bank Account Number )
· After
login ( using biometric identification of Finger + Iris + Voice ) , customer
can “
Re-charge
“ his “ Account “ with ( say ) , Rs 1,000 / - at the beginning, using the
built-in Virtual Keyboard ( Device will have built-in camera )
· When
the “ balance “ to his credit falls to ( say ) Rs 100 / - , an alarm will ring
and
he will also get Email / SMS / WhatsApp reminder
· If
he fails to “ Re-Charge “ his account , power will get disconnected upon the
balance
falling to Rs 10/- !
· Power
will start flowing again as soon as consumer “ re-charges
“ through device
Read further details :
09 Dec 2017
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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