In the backdrop of increasing complaints of fast running electricity meters,Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday asked discoms in the city to ensure efficiency in the power measurement mechanism to address customers concerns. She was speaking at the inauguration of a three-day international conference on Billing and Metering in the Capital. Correct metering is bound to put an end to consumers being suspicious of distribution companies,Dikshit said addressing a conference on metering and billing systems. Observing that access to electricity is the right of every citizen,Dikshit said all consumers would be interested in installing reliable meters. The Chief Minister also underlined the importance of spreading awareness on installation of power meters and said discoms had succeeded on this front to a large extent. Effort has been made by distribution companies to achieve 100 per cent metering. The AT&C losses have been reduced from 50 per cent in year 2002 to 20 per cent in year 2008-09, she said. Dikshit said the load-shedding in Delhi had been reduced from 2.5 per cent to 0.6 per cent of the total energy supplied. The losses due to the non-metered consumers in JJ cluster areas have been minimised by bringing them in the billing net. Dikshit further exhorted consumers to curb wastage of power. Discom BSES,which recently faced flak from consumers complaining of high power bills,is hosting the conference which will see international utilities participating in a discussion on smart metering technology. The three-day conference,which discussed the theme - transforming the power utility with smart meter and grid technologies will concentrate on selecting the right metering technology based on local needs,its organiser,BSES,said. Sessions will include lessons learnt by the West as they try to move to smart metering technology and smarter grids. In Delhi,Discom NDPL has charted out a pilot project which will see certain consumers being linked to smart metering technology. Discom BSES too has been discussing moving to smart meters.
