Allaying apprehensions of some consumers that pre-paid energy meters were being fitted only in their areas/colony, the Department of Power (DoP) Wednesday clarified that pre-paid meters would become mandatory for all categories of consumers in due course of time as per the policy of the Ministry of Power.
In a press release, chief engineer (D&R) Moa Aier stated that the department had been holding consultations and meetings with various colony/ward authorities and public to explain the process of installing pre-paid meters in Kohima and Dimapur. However, the department stated that there appeared to be still some reluctance or apprehension in the minds of some consumers in certain areas in Dimapur on the installation of pre-paid energy meters.
In this regard, the department has sought to clarify that pre-paid energy meter would solve inaccurate billings and the resultant complications. It said that billing would be accurate and commensurate to the actual consumption.
Pre-paid energy metre, the department said would enable consumer to know their actual consumption pattern thus enabling them to control their usage of electricity in a responsible manner.
According to the department, the tariff of pre-paid consumer was lesser than the post-paid meter consumers, adding that apprehensions of “higher bills” were unfounded. However, it said that if internal wirings were defective and there were leakages, it would show as consumption.
Therefore, the department said that consumer must check and rectify their internal wirings as it could be a fire hazard or cause damage to electrical equipment in the building.
Further, the department said that there appeared to be a lot of billing disputes in the case of post-paid meters due to any reason(s), which take a toll on both the consumers and the departmental staff. It, however, said that such dispute(s) and difficulties would be all avoided with pre-paid meters.
In future, the department said that two-part tariff (dynamic pricing) could be introduced enabling consumers to choose their time of consumption of electricity in different times of the day thus economizing their consumption.
With proper billing and collection, the department said the financial health of the power sector could be improved. The department said it would also lead to improvement in the condition of power supply and become more stable as capacity addition and maintenance could be supported. Besides, the department said that increase in electricity tariff could be controlled, which would directly benefit the consumers.
Asserting that currently recharging of pre-paid meters were done at certain re-charge locations, the department, however, said that online recharging was expected to be introduced soon.
According to the department, pre-paid meters was being installed with two main core objectives—reducing losses thereby improving the financial health of the power sector and improving services to consumers.
The objective, the department said was not to collect more from the consumers, but to plug leakages, reduce losses and achieve a more accurate measurement of actual consumption.
In this regard, the department said every responsible citizen must consider that Nagaland cannot remain stagnant as a welfare state forever hampering development particularly in the power sector.
Point out that it has been incurring huge revenue losses due to various factors, the department said the problem was not only being experienced by Nagaland power department, but has been plaguing the country’s entire distribution sector.
Therefore, in order to address the issue, the department said the Centre has emphasised on the distribution sector reform through the introduction of smart metering system to reduce human errors in the entire energy billing and accounting system.
Since electricity was a consumable commodity, the department said sooner or later the citizens have to become responsible consumers, and should be aware of what and how they consume and its fair payment. “Installation of pre-paid meters is a step towards such a transformational change,” the department said.
Due to the pandemic situation, the department said the ongoing installation works of pre-paid meters has been suspended for the time being. However, it said that once the situation stabilized the installation process would be restarted at the earliest. The department has, therefore, sought the cooperation and support of all citizens.
It may be mentioned that the department had installed about 1,100 nos of pre-paid meters as a pilot project in Marwari Patti area of Dimapur during 2013-14, which was successfully functioning.
The installation was extended to more areas within Kohima and Dimapur starting October 2020.
In the phase-I, 10,000 are being installed in Dimapur and another 9,000 in Kohima.