3.05 lakh pre-paid meters installed till date
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 25 2017:
Following the introduction of pre-paid meter system, the State's power requirement during peak hours has come down from 200 MW to around 170 MW .
Speaking about Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana or Saubhagya in short which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, MSPDCL General Manager (Electrical Circle) L Dineshkumar said that they are now able to collect a revenue of around Rs 18/19 crore from power consumers in month .
Saubhagya which is aimed at electrifying all un-electrified households of the country by December next year at minimal cost was launched at Deendayal Urja Bhawan, New Delhi at 6.30 am .
The launch function was telecast live and the same was watched at MSPDCL's corporate office located inside the Secured Office Complex, North AOC .
Speaking to this reporter after the launching function, Dineshkumar said that 3.05 lakh pre-paid meters have been installed in the State out of which 2.80 lakh have been activated so far .
Plans are also afoot to activate all the remaining pre-paid meters which have been already installed and another one lakh pre-paid meter would be purchased soon .
Earlier when pre-paid meter system was not introduced in the State, MSPDCL was able to collect only around Rs 5/6 crore in spite of investing maximum efforts.
Now, MSPDCL is able to collect power bills to the tune of Rs 17-18 crore in a month .
Around 72 per cent of the total households of Manipur have been electrified and the Government has set a target of making electricity accessible to all households by March next year, Dineshkumar said .
On being enquired about the frequent outage of power supply despite introduction of pre-paid meter system, the General Manager said that pre-paid meter system does not guarantee uninterrupted power supply .
Power outage may be due to technical or systemic failures .
He claimed that the State's power situation has improved remarkably and the corporation has been planning to open 15 new power sub-stations.
This would go a long way in electrifying many areas which are yet to be electrified .
Under Saubhagya scheme launched today, poor families would be given power connectivity free of cost but APL families have to pay Rs 500 each.
Still they can pay the same amount in 10 instalments.