Pre-paid meters to be compulsory

BANGALORE: In an initiative that will take the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) one step closer to smart metering technology, BESCOM will make prepaid meters compulsory for all those who are currently using temporary meters and those using electronic hoarding.Speaking at an interactive session organised by the Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA), BESCOM, managing director P Mannivannan announced that starting September 1 the temporary meters and electronic hoarding users will have to use prepaid meters.Many countries around the globe have started the use of prepaid meters that can cut the cost of meter reading as no meter readers are required, while they also eliminate administrative hassles associated with disconnection and reconnection, he said.A team of South African pre-paid metering company representatives are in the city and are expected to meet the Energy Sector officials this week.BESCOM managing director Mannivannan also informed the industrialist that the government was ready for separate feeders for industries and asked KASSIA and FKCCI to locate places where these feeders can be put up.During the interactive session, many consumers of BESCOM from Doddaballapur, Tumkur and other places raised objection to the fact that there was a bias in the quality of power being supplied to their areas.“We face more power cuts and many problems even though, we are paying the same tariff charges. However, if it is so, then why can’t BESCOM provide some sort of power subsidy to the areas in the outskirts,” a industrialist from Tumkur said.In the meantime, KASSIA president Prakash Raikar presented the Additional Principal Secretary Shamin Banu with a memorandum asking the State Government to bring down the transmission losses to 10 per cent, while to look for new innovative technology for the trouble- strewn Raichur Thermal Power corporation.