Kolkata: The West Bengal government has stopped the installation of prepaid smart meters in the state.
This followed widespread complaints following the installation of smart meters. These complaints were mainly about overbilling and trouble getting electricity connections back after disconnection because of the low balance.
The government has already installed 60,000 prepaid smart meters in districts like North 24 Parganas, Nadia and Purba Bardhaman.
Common people resisted the installation in these districts. Their main complaints were that they were forced to pay much higher electricity tariffs compared to conventional meters.
As per the state government, prepaid smart meters that had already been installed at the residences would be treated as normal conventional meters.
The consumers could continue paying bills quarterly as the used to.
The smart meters already installed need not be replaced, but could be converted into post-paid meters easily.
Power department officials need not visit the homes of consumers for the conversions. This can be done remotely from the communication cell set up in New Town to monitor the smart meters.
Discussion about this post