Adani Electric is investing Rs 500 cr for installation of smart meters in Mumbai | Rare Techy

Adani Electricity Mumbai (AEML) on Tuesday said it is investing Rs 500 crore to install smart meters for seven lakh consumers in the financial capital by the end of 2023.

The power discom, a unit of the listed Adani Transmission, said 7 lakh smart meters are the target of the first phase and the remaining 20 lakh customers will get smart meters by the end of FY25.

In an evening statement, smaller rival Tata Power also said it is on a similar drive to install smart meters, aiming to have 1 lakh of its 7.5 lakh consumers under the better technology meters by March 2023, and cover all consumers by FY25- end.

AEML has already installed 1.10 lakh such smart meters, and the remaining 5.90 lakh will be done by the end of 2023 to complete the first phase, chief operating officer Kapil Sharma told reporters.

The meter will help consumers get real-time updates on electricity consumption, and also allow companies to improve their collection efficiency in case of non-payment as they can disconnect the meter remotely, Sharma said.

Each smart meter unit costs up to Rs 1,000 extra, but the savings in operating expenses accruing over time outweigh the costs incurred upfront, the company’s managing director and chief executive Kandarp Patel said.

The cost of the additional expenditure will have to be borne by the customer in the end, but the increase in energy bills will be “insignificant” given the benefits of such meters, Patel said.

The capital expenditure of Rs 500 crore was done through internal accruals and the company has no plans for equity infusion, Patel said.

The company, which has been operating for the last four years after the Rs 18,000-crore acquisition of Reliance Energy from the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has invested up to Rs 1,500 crore per annum in various technology and network improvement initiatives every year, Patel said. .

He said that he plans to continue with the same rate of investment for the next two years as well, and then he will take the call to consider the requirements later.

It has not been able to increase its market share in the last four years, and hopes that initiatives on the service front will help it, Patel said. On Tuesday, it introduced a video chat facility for customers, a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence and also a kiosk machine for bill payment.

Patel urged the government to introduce changes in discom regulations, which could allow companies like his to expand to other areas beyond what they currently serve, and also added that it was working on other initiatives in parallel.

It plans to install 8,500 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations with an investment of Rs 32 crore, he said, adding that work on the home automation front is also underway.

Patel said the Kharghar-Vikhroli transmission line project is now progressing at the desired pace and it should be commissioned by May next year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)