KERC Issues Draft Norms For Pre-Paid Meters For All Power Consumers

Karnataka: KERC Issues Rules To Transit Towards Smart Meters

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has now issued a draft notification to allow all categories of power consumers to install pre-paid electricity meters. Earlier pre-paid meter connections were confined to certain categories of power consumers only in the state. 

The Commission has now sought the public’s response to the draft regulations within one month. The new norms have been named KERC (Pre-paid Metering) Regulations 2023. It applies to all the categories of consumers (new and existing consumers). However, the Commission has proposed to keep the pre-paid meter installations optional for consumers. 

“The Commission notes that currently, only in respect of temporary installations the Commission has ordered installation of pre-paid meters and in respect of installations in government buildings, installing pre-paid meters is made optional, at the instance of the consumers. For all the other installations, the Commission is yet to specify any Regulations. Hence, the Commission has felt the necessity to specify Regulations on pre-paid smart metering for such of the consumers who desire to get them installed,” the Commission said.

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As per the draft norms, the existing consumers could apply with their local discoms for the power supply through the pre-paid meters. The Commission has allowed the consumers to procure the pre-paid meters from the market, subject to its conformation with relevant standards. It also puts the onus on the consumers to bear the cost of the meters.

The norms also laid down measures for reading the meters in regular intervals. “The pre-paid smart meters shall be read remotely at least once a day and an authorized representative of the Distribution licensee shall physically read the meter once every quarter. The data regarding energy consumption shall be made available to the consumer, through website or mobile application or Short Message Service etc,” the norms read. 

The norms also talked about the calculation methods in case the maximum demand of the connections exceeds its monthly sanctioned load capacity. “In case the maximum demand recorded by the smart meter exceeds the sanctioned load in a month, the bill, for that billing cycle shall be calculated based on the actual recorded maximum demand and consumers shall be informed of this change in calculation through Short Message Service or mobile application,” the norms read. 

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The rules also barred the discoms from charging any security deposit from the consumers in such cases. It also empowered the discoms to ensure compliance with technical requirements and relevant regulations in case such migration takes place at the consumers’ end.