Bengal power minister, Aroop Biswas, on Wednesday said the state government would treat the prepaid smart meters that had already been installed at the residences as normal meters and the consumers could pay bills quarterly as they used to.

The minister’s comments in the Assembly came after the government pressed a pause button on the installation of prepaid smart meters at residences. Common people resisted the move in the districts where the meters were installed, saying they were forced to pay much higher electricity tariffs compared to the conventional meters.

“The Centre had forced us to install prepaid meters... I would congratulate the chief minister for her decision to stop the installation of prepaid smart meters. Such meters will be treated as normal meters and the consumers will be able to pay bills after three months as they used to,” said Biswas.

The government had announced on Monday that the installation of prepaid smart meters would be put on hold as there were complaints about overbilling and troubles over getting electricity connections back after disconnection because of the low balance.

Sources said that the state government had been forced to put the project on hold, keeping the 2026 Assembly elections in mind.

“Nearly 60,000 prepaid smart meters were installed in districts like North 24-Parganas, Nadia and East Burdwan. As consumers started demonstrating against the power department, saying they wanted to get back to conventional meters, pressure started building up on the government. No ruling party would like to go to elections with so many aggrieved people. There was a sign that if the project was carried forward, it could turn into real trouble for the government,” said a source.

Sources said that the power department would not need to replace the smart meters that had already been installed, as the meters could be converted into post-paid meters easily.

“Even the employees of the power department don’t need to visit the homes of the consumers to convert the prepaid meters into post-paid ones. This can be done remotely from the communication cell set up in New Town to monitor the smart meters,” said a source.

The move by the government gave some relief to the consumers, but many of them said that they wanted the department to uninstall the smart meters and replace them with conventional meters.

The All Bengal Electricity Consumers Association, which was fighting against the installation of smart meters, said the department should uninstall the smart meters immediately.

“If the smart meters are converted into post-paid meters, the department can turn the meters into prepaid mode any day, particularly after the elections. If the state wants to give relief to the consumers, these smart meters should be replaced with conventional meters,” said Subrata Biswas, general secretary of All Bengal Electricity Consumers’ Association.