The Bengal government has initiated two new steps to install smart meters at domestic consumers’ residences and bypass their stiff resistance to the move.

First, the smart power meters will be post-paid and the billing cycle will remain the same as the existing system. Second, the initiative to install smart meters for domestic consumers will start from the residences of state government employees and staff of state-aided institutions, as this will minimise the possibility of resistance.

The previous Trinamool Congress government had taken steps to install smart meters at the residences of domestic power consumers but had to pause the exercise last year because of resistance from common people. They alleged that they faced several hardships because of the smart meters.

After nearly 60,000 smart meters were installed and made operational, consumers alleged they were forced to pay more. Another complaint was that because the smart meters were post-paid, electricity connections were disconnected when the balance reached zero and restoring the power was difficult.

“The new government is determined to implement the Centre’s Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) in the state, which mandates the installation of smart meters at government installations and on all commercial and domestic premises. But the state government will try to address the concern of the common people,” said a senior official.

According to sources, the government has identified the main concerns of the people and is trying to address them.

“The main concern was that the previous domestic smart meters were prepaid, working like prepaid mobile phones where you must recharge the meter and use it until the balance reaches zero. But with smart electric meters, the problem is that restoring electricity is not easy after disconnection. We are trying to address the issue by installing post-paid meters instead of prepaid ones,” said a source.

The state government will start installing smart meters at the residences of the state government employees in the WBSEDCL area because it does not want to take a chance this time.

“This can be called a pilot project. The residences of government employees have been identified for the installation of domestic smart meters to start with, as there will be no resistance. If anything goes wrong, we will correct it, and then we will install them in the residences of domestic consumers,” saidan official.

Already, the state government has asked government offices to install smart meters. Smart meters have already been erected in 80,000 of 92,000 government offices, and the remaining ones will be installed by August.