The Government of India is planning to introduce smart energy meters to curb power theft, said the Union Power Minister. He also said that average AT & C losses of power in certain states are between 24 to 26 per cent. This whole exercise appears illogical and will be merely a fancy piece in the house. No doubt the meter readings will be accurate since it is digital, if all the parameters are in place. Also on line readings could be obtained from a home computer as per the design of the software. Meter reader's job will be made easy or it may not require them as the readings will be available online. Concept of smart meters is not yet well defined during the discussions, whether it will be on par with the foreign countries or according to our Indian ISI standards. The question is, will it be doing the job to plug power thefts? This is a million dollar question. The Electricity department should first think of various existing electrical supply drawbacks, before these meters are introduced.
