Manohar Lal Khattar.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Bengaluru: Union Minister of Power Manohar Lal Khattar pushed for prepaid smart meter saturation in all government establishments, including government colonies, in the southern part of the country by August this year.
At the Regional Power Conference for the Southern Region States/Union Territories in Bengaluru on Friday, he called on the states to expedite the rolling out of smart meters in commercial and industrial establishments and high-load consumers by November. Ministers and officials from different southern states, including Karnataka, were present.
Khattar reviewed Karnataka’s power sector projects, congratulating the state for its rising share of renewable energy. He emphasised the need for a centralised payment mechanism and called for clearance of the government departments' electricity dues, adding that pre-paid smart meters could help in their timely clearance.
He also urged Karnataka to reduce the annual financial losses of its power utilities and implement cost-reflective tariffs. He called for the early resolution of Right of Way (RoW) issues and highlighted that states could leverage Central schemes for energy infrastructure.
The minister also urged all the states to submit proposals for the third phase of the Green Energy Corridor (GEC-III).
Addressing all the participating states' representatives, union power secretary Pankaj Agarwal pressed the need to ensure necessary power generation capacity tie-ups as per the resource adequacy plan up to FY2035.
Shripad Naik, Union Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy, highlighted the need to work on the issues of financial viability and resource adequacy. He called on states to urgently execute PM-KUSUM works and sign up power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the same within next seven months.
The conference also explored efforts to secure power sector infrastructure against cyber security concerns by implementing protocols for the same.