Goa to have smart electric meters; will automatically generate bills, send SMS and emails to consumers

Panaji, February 12: Now Goan people will get automatically generated computer electricity bill as the power department of the state is planning to replace the 3 lakh analogue electricity meters to digital.

“The electricity department will be replacing three lakh analogue electricity meters in the State with digital meters. The work has been already been tendered and the production has begun. By next month the work to replace these meters will begin” said the Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar.

“There are around 60,000 analogue electricity meters which are faulty and because of this the department could not bill the consumers according to their electricity consumption,” he said.

Additionally, 70000 smart meters will be installed in Panaji will automatically generate computerized electricity bills and also it will alert the consumers by sending SMS and emails. Assuring the accuracy for the meters, Madkaikar said that the errors will be zero in these meters and also an inaccuracy in the bill making will decrease.

“We are in the process of finalising the tendering documents along with its specifications and in the next 15 days, the government will be in a position to float the tender for procuring smart electricity meters under the smart city initiative for the city of Panjim on a pilot basis,” Madkaikar said.

“There were multiple companies which came up with the latest technology in digital meters and we wanted the best and the latest technology and that is the reason the floating of the tender was delayed,” he said.