After the concerned officials have reportedly confirmed that 40 per cent progress in the roll-out of smart electricity meters has been achieved under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), with the installation of over 3.81 lakh devices across the Union Territory, the government, which earlier used to blame non-payment of bills and power theft for unscheduled power cuts and load shedding across J&K has left with no excuse to cover up the power outage scenario in the region.
The people sitting at helm especially the ones who used to say in the past that there would be no power cuts in the metered areas will have to pull up their socks now as many areas in J&K are not only metered now but the devices installed to measure the dissipation of power are smart, leaving no scope for power theft or any other kind of ‘hanky-panky’ as far as use of electricity is concerned.
It is pertinent to mention that the first phase of the project started in November 2020 with an initial target to install 20,000 meters in selected areas of Jammu and Srinagar cities, and it was eventually completed in 2022 with 1.5 lakh smart meters installed. The second and third phases that began in 2024 with the cumulative target of over 9.50 lakh smart meter installations by 2026 are currently under implementation.
As it has been reported that the Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses have already been reduced from 58 per cent in 2022 to around 32 per cent at present, with a target to bring them down to 12 per cent by 2028, the concerned quarters responsible for providing electricity to the people have left with no excuses for large scale power cuts that too without informing the people beforehand.
Moreover, with technological interventions steadily reshaping J&K’s power landscape, the administration must now shift its focus towards strengthening grid capacity, improving maintenance planning, and enhancing transparency in outage management. Citizens, having fulfilled their responsibility through accurate metering and timely payments, deserve a modern, reliable and professionally managed power supply system.
It is therefore important that the helmsmen dealing with the power sector should ensure that no entity having a smart meter installed at his residence or a business establishment should face difficulty with regard to unplanned load shedding. The JPDCL and KPDCL should consider the example of Mumbai, which has achieved the target of uninterrupted power supply decades ago.
With smart meters already taking over the charge, the alibi of non-payment of bills has been eliminated fully as the connections not paying bills automatically face disconnections leaving no scope for revenue losses. Now the simple principle has to be followed viz buy power and provide the same to the people uninterruptedly without any disruptions as revenue collection is no more a problem especially after the introduction of the pre-paid system in J&K.
