Prepaid meters: Regulators seek to clear legal hurdles

Prepaid meters: Regulators seek to clear legal hurdles:

The country’s power regulators have intensified their bid to encourage prepaid metering across the country, as they launched an initiative to seek the opinions of the Attorney General and Solicitor General to remove legal hurdles in the matter.

The Forum of Regulators (FoR), citing experiences in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Delhi, said the provision regarding the notice period to disconnect power was the primary bone of contention. This comes under Section 56 of the Electricity Act, 2003.

Prepaid meters are an alternative metering and billing arrangement that require customers to pay for electricity before it can be consumed. These meters can get recharged through coupons provided by meter supplier. There would be in-house display units which would keep check on consumption and credit balance. Besides, these meters have an in-built facility of credit alarm sensitising consumers about low credit. Plus, they have auto disconnection wherein the supply is automatically discontinued in case the consumer exhausts the credit limit or the load exceeds the specified limit.

FoR chairman Pramod Deo, who also heads the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, said at the meeting of the regulators it was agreed that states could try to target groups of consumers, which include government and public-sector undertakings, temporary connections and consumer’s premises on the rent for introduction of prepaid meter.

“The CEA (Central Electricity Authority) will come out with specific regulations or guidelines on pre-paid metering and development of common platform for vending infrastructure,” he told Business Standard.

MahaVitaran, or the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company which has already launched pre-paid metering, claims it has been a success. MahaVitaran managing director Ajoy Mehta said pre-paid metering currently applied to second-home owners and consumers with temporary connections. “Consumers, who have gone for pre-paid meters are quite happy,” he said. “MahaVitaran will further increase the consumers going in for pre-paid metering.”

An FoR official said the basic question that arises was whether or not the implementation of prepaid metering by a utility violates Section 56(1)(a)(b) of the Electricity Act, 2003. “Is there any provision in the Act that prevents the utility/licensee/regulator to mandatorily enforce supply through prepaid meters on the consumers? That is what we want to know,” he pointed out.

Thus, FoR has decided to seek the opinions of the Attorney General and Solicitor General to remove that uncertainty in the implementation of pre-paid metering, the official said. “Prepaid meters have been, to begin with, given in selected areas and classes of consumers. This is not violative of the Electricity Act,” he claimed.