Power secretary pitches for reducing cost of smart meters for affordability

The government on Thursday asked smart meter makers to bring down the cost of the device to make it more affordable.

Power Secretary Alok Kumar said safety, quality and design should be the key parameters for manufacturing of smart meters.

"I urge the manufacturers to think of innovative ways to reduce the price of the meters to half without compromising on quality. We have improved the loss reduction aspect and are working on the expansion of RDSS scheme and smart distribution," Kumar said while addressing industry body IEEMA's '9th Metering India 2022' event here.

Besides, IEEMA should focus on capacity building of the utilities and finding opportunities to change conventional meters into smart meters with sustainable disposing option, he said.

As per industry estimates, a smart meter costs around USD 50, including manufacturing and installation charges.

Around 25 crore smart prepaid metres are to be installed by March 2025 under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) at