In a bid to improve the financial health of power distribution companies in the state and to clamp down on electricity theft, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has given his approval to install a million smart meters in five districts - namely Panipat, Karnal, Panchkula, Faridabad and Gurugram. The meters would be installed by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) after it signs a memorandum of understanding with the state’s power discoms.

The smart metering system would obviate the need for manual meter reading, thus bringing down labour costs and eliminating data entry errors. These smart meters are also expected to bring down Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses - a proxy for power theft and various infrastructure inefficiencies.

Since the central government launched Ujjawal Discom Assurance Yojana was launched three years ago, Haryana government has installed 10,000 metres in Panipat as part of a pilot project. Currently, the total smart metering coverage in Haryana stands at less than 1 per cent.

According to EESL, smart meters which are connected through a web-based monitoring system, will help reduce commercial losses and enhance revenues of power companies. As far as Haryana is concerned, UDAY has proved to be a boon for the two discoms of the state which posted a profit after a period of 15 years. Smart metering reform is expected to further improve the efficiency of power utilities.