Drive to test electronic power meters in Delhi by mid-February

NEW DELHI: For those who feel their electronic power meters are fast, leading to inflated power bills, here's another chance to get them checked. A new meter testing drive announced by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to kick off by mid-February.

It will involve checking of 10,000 'fast' meters across the city to assess whether they are defective or not. The new drive comes after huge public demand to check electronic meters which thousands of Delhiites claim have led to inflated bills. Consumers have time till January 31 to get their meters tested.

An aggrieved consumer will have to write to the deputy commissioner (DC) of his or her area, along with a copy of the power bill. The government will then randomly check 10,000 meters from the number of complaints received. Delhi government has approached half-a-dozen engineering colleges to take over the role of an independent agency for checking the meters.

These include IIT Delhi, Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, Delhi Technological University (DTU), IIIT Delhi, Jamia and government laboratory Electronic Regional Trust Laboratories. Out of these, DTU and IIIT have shown interest in the job. "We are still getting ready for the job and the rates are being finalized," said sources in the government.

The sources confirmed that the government was not interested in roping in Bangalore-based Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) for the drive though it has been actively involved in all such previous campaigns in the city. The reason could be scepticism of the consumers since CPRI has in the past found most meters normal.

Also, the government was looking into bringing in a Delhi-based institute as the independent third party. "This is a more extensive kind of exercise and will involve a lot of teams to run around and check meters at individual households. CPRI tests meters in its labs whereas we want meters checked at the sites. We also think that engineering colleges in Delhi will offer better rates than CPRI. However, when we look at a permanent institution to check meters in Delhi, we may go back to CPRI for the job,'' said an official.
Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had in its last tariff order called for a meter testing drive for which they had allotted Rs 50 lakh to the public grievance cell. The new government is now looking at the possibility of utilizing these funds for the current drive.

"DERC funds can be used for this drive and any additional expenditure will be borne by the stategovernment and not the consumers. The last elaborate meter testing drive was abandoned in November 2010 and it is critical to hold this drive," said a source.