Telangana: Prepaid power meter plan turns out to be dud

Hyderabad: There are few takers for the Telangana government's initiative to affix prepaid electricity meters in government offices.

Only two agencies have responded to the tenders invited by the TS Power Distribution Company (Discom) to implement the pilot project.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had directed the officers concerned to fix prepaid meters in all government offices that were not paying their power bills regularly.

Due to non-payment of electricity bills, the arrears, along with surcharge for payment delays, have accumulated to nearly Rs 2,000 crore. The two Discoms in Telangana are already under huge debts for obtaining loans and purchasing power from private parties to ensure there were no power cuts in the state in the past 12 months.

The Discoms are likely to miss the April 1 deadline set by the Chief Minister for implementing the prepaid meters project in government offices. “As per rules, at least three firms should participate in the tender bidding process, and we have received only two. So we have decided to extend the time and wait for other agencies too to participate,” said a senior official in the Energy department.

The prepaid meters project is aimed at bringing about a sense of conservation and discipline in energy usage to government departments.