Meghalaya Power minister demands additional funds from Centre for smart electric meters

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Meghalaya Power Minister Abu Taher Mondal has demanded additional funds for installing smart electric meters in households across the state, officials said. On Tuesday, attending a conference in the national capital, the state Power Minister raised specific issues concerning the implementation of the smart meter scheme before the Union Power Minister, Manohar Lal.

Mondal appraised the Union Power Minister that the discovered cost of a smart meter is much higher than the sanction cost. Though the amount discovered is almost at par with other states in the northeast, since the sanction cost is much higher, Mondal urged the Union Power Minister to increase the subsidy amount per meter, as in its absence, the burden of additional cost would either be passed on to the consumer or would be borne by the power utility.

"This impact will defeat the overall purpose of the scheme," Mondal said. The conference of the Power Minister of all the states chaired by the Union Minister Manohar Lal was held in New Delhi on Tuesday to discuss various issues related to the implementation of rights of consumer rules, PM Har Ghar Saurya Yojana, resource adequacy, development of pumped storage projects, etc. The Power Ministers and secretaries of all the states attended the conference.

Mondal appraised that the state has received the proposal for the development of pumped storage projects with a cumulative capacity of 4,800 MW. Since the tariff of these projects is likely to be very high, Minister Mondal urged that the Ministry of Power consider some kind of benefits in terms of free power to the state. On the issue related to renewable energy, Mondal informed Union Minister Lal that there are several small hydroelectric projects for which the detailed project report has been completed and these projects can be started immediately.