Smart grid for 87,000 houses

PUDUCHERRY: The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Puducherry Electricity Department to implement the first Smart Grid Project in the country on a pilot basis.Secretary (Power) Uddipta Ray, representing the UT administration, and GRTS-11 executive director Bharat Bhushan, on behalf of PGCIL, signed the MoU in the presence of Chief Minister N Rangasamy.According to officials, the project, which would cover 87,000 houses in the town, would be completed in four months.The India Smart Grid Task Force (ISGTF) set up by the Government of India had recommended that the Smart Grid Project be implemented on a pilot basis in eight cities in the country, of which Puducherry is the first.  The cost of the project is pegged at around Rs 77 crore for each city. Of this, Rs 25 crore would be borne by the Centre and the rest by the state.This project would primarily involve the installation of advance metering infrastructure in sync with the Central Data Control Centre. This would enable the customers to ascertain the exact billing amount at any point of time and accordingly manage their power usage. Tthe EB would be able to monitor the customers’ energy usage pattern and detect malpractice or power theft, online.The advance metering will facilitate the online billing of power tariffs and collection of dues  The efficiency in tariff collection (90 per cent at present) could also be improved to 98 per cent.  Through this scheme, the EB is expected to generate an inflow to the tune of around Rs 12.24 crore per annum, without any investment.