No smart meters to be installed in West Bengal, announces state govt

Kolkata: Amid continuous tussle between West Bengal government and the Centre over several central schemes, the state government on the House floor on Wednesday announced that smart meters for electricity will not be installed in Bengal, state Power Minister Aroop Biswas said.

The state power minister said the state government has completely rejected the idea of installing the smart metres, which are prepaid. He said, “these smart meters will not be installed in Bengal and 5000-6000 which have been installed will be converted to normal metres.”

Showing the gazette notification to the House, Biswas said, “West Bengal government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has stopped the installation of smart meters as these were pre-paid meters.”


"Following some complaints, the installation of smart meters in the homes of domestic consumers has been suspended to take necessary action," a Nabanna state secretariat statement said on Monday.

Earlier, on Monday the West Bengal government had also said that after successfully installing smart meters in various commercial establishments, government offices, and telecommunication towers, smart meters were also installed on an experimental basis in the homes of a few domestic consumers in three-four districts, the state government has said.
According to the state Power department, installation of smart meters had started in three-four districts in the domestic segments.

The Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP) is an initiative by the Centre to promote the use of smart meters across the country. SMNP aims to replace 25 crore conventional meters with smart meters in India.