There are reports of consumers claiming that their energy bills have gone up by three times or even more in some cases.
Published Jul 30, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 30, 2025 | 9:00 AM
A smart electric meter. (iStock)
Synopsis: A recent letter from the Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Corporation Limited to Adani Transmission Step Seven rekindled the fears of smart meters finding their way into the homes of the people. People are concerned about the possible steep rise in power bills after the fixation of the smart meters.
Andhra Pradesh seems to be sitting on a powder keg. It is getting into another struggle with the energy policy of the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu-led government prefers the installation of smart meters to conventional ones.
The agitation is resurrecting the images of the nightmare that unfolded at Basheerbagh in Hyderabad on 25 August 2000. It was when the police shot and killed three of about 25,000 demonstrators who were taking out a rally to the Assembly to protest the steep hike in power tariffs imposed by the then TDP government, which was also headed by Naidu.
Chandrababu Naidu even now recalls how the incident had cost him power in the 2004 elections. He says it was a price he had paid for pushing reforms in the power sector.
Though the opposition to smart meters has not reached that level, the indications are that it may.
On 29 June, a letter from the Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Corporation Limited (APCPDCL), Vijayawada, to Adani Transmission Step Seven (ATSS), Ahmedabad, rekindled the fears of smart meters finding their way into the homes of the people.
In the letter, the Chief General Manager of the APCPDCL said permission was accorded for the installation of smart meters to domestic services in his jurisdiction. In the letter, the CGM had said that ATSS had informed him that installation of smart meters had been completed in 87 percent of government services and 70 percent in commercial and industrial services and sought permission to install meters for domestic services.
Consumers awarded to ATSS under Phase I and Phase II in the jurisdiction of APCPDCL.
People are concerned about the possible steep rise in power bills after the fixation of the smart meters. At present, the smart meters are being installed top-down, first for business establishments, industries, and government services.
The government has not yet begun fitting the meters to households and agriculture pumpsets, but there are fears that it will, in due course of time.
Political parties and public groups are already up in arms against the imposition of smart meters. Though the government claims that it would enhance billing accuracy, reduce power theft, and improve grid efficiency, concerns remain that smart meters are already leading to inflated billing.
The project that is being implemented in Andhra Pradesh is part of the national Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP) of the Union government. The Union Ministry of Power is aiming to replace approximately 25 crore conventional meters across India with smart meters by 2025-26.
The smart meters have features like prepaid billing and Time of Day (ToD) tariffs, about which the consumers are afraid that they were intended to fleece them.
However, the claim that smart meters lead to higher power bills may not be unfounded. There are reports of consumers claiming that their energy bills have gone up by three times or even more in some cases.
Apart from this, the cost of installing smart meters, estimated at ₹13,252 crore for 1.89 crore consumers, is another unnerving factor. The political parties are arguing that the cost of the installation would be passed on to the consumers either in the form of rent or asking them to purchase them outright.
There are also reports of operational issues like failure to automatically restore power supply after making the bill payment. As meters are manufactured by private companies like Adani, it is quite possible that they would have access to consumer data, which might violate data privacy regulations.
In a nutshell, the government will be surrendering control of power distribution to the private companies. The communist parties believe that the introduction of smart meters is to make way surreptitiously for privatising discoms and phasing out subsidies.
Ironically, the TDP, which opposed smart meters while in Opposition, has taken a U-turn since assuming power in 2024. As the heat is beginning to increase, the government has tried to assuage the hurt feelings of the people by ordering a field-level inquiry into billing complaints in June 2025.
Apparently, to settle political scores with the previous YSRCP government, the state government, in January this year, cancelled the installation of smart meters for 1.858 million agriculture connections as they were started under the previous YSRCP regime.
The measure was intended to hurt the interests of Shirdi Sai Electricals, the contracted company, which reportedly has links with the YSRCP bigwigs. As far as agriculture connections are concerned, they are on hold right now.
The power utilities say the fears of the consumers are unfounded. The Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company (SPDCL) clarified that smart meter installation will not amount to an additional burden on consumers and that no additional charges will be levied.
The first High Tension (HT) and Low Tension (LT) smart meters were installed in August 2024 at APSPDCL’s corporate office in Tirupati and the Mandal Educational Officer’s office in Railway Kodur, respectively.
Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) Chairman and Managing Director I Prithviraj said that no extra fee would be levied on the consumers for installing the meters and that the consumers could pay in instalments.
The instalments would be reflected in bills every month, and consumers could seek redressal for metering and billing issues by contacting the toll-free helpline (1912).
Speaking to South First, CPI(M) State Secretariat Member Ch Babu Rao said that the smart meters are being installed as part of a policy shift by the state government in favour of privatising the discoms.
He said the installation of smart meters, which will be done by the Adani company, would only be the beginning of the implementation of the policy of the state government.
The CPI(M) leader said that the cost of the meters is quite high, ranging from ₹8,927 (single phase) to ₹17,286 (three phase), and the consumers have to buy them from the Adani company.
The period of repayment of the cost of the meter is about 93 months. The Adani company intends to install two crore meters in the state, which means that the company is placing a burden of ₹25,000 crore on the consumers.
Babu Rao said that the BJP and TDP are hand in glove in implementing this insidious programme to loot the consumers. “The introduction of these changes in the name of reform is only to offer state public sector undertakings on a platter to private companies. Already, the power consumers in the state are overburdened. The TDP, which promised not to increase power tariffs, went back on its promise and placed a burden of ₹15,485 crore in the name of true-up charges.”
“The government is also imposing the true-up charges under the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime, too; for 2019, 2022, and 2023. If the power sector is in government control, consumers would have the right to ask. If it goes into the private sector’s hands, no one would be answerable to the people,” he said.
The CPI(M) leader said that as far as power charges on the people are concerned, all the parties — YSRCP when it was in power, and TDP, Jana Sena, and BJP now in power — are responsible.
“It is unfortunate that the Chandrababu Naidu-led government had not taken action against Adani companies even though a US court had indicted the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government for taking ₹1,750 crore in bribes in return for awarding a 7,000 MW solar power project to Adani companies. This agreement will place a burden of ₹20,000 crore on the people in the next 25 years,” he said.
He added that his party will spearhead agitations to force the government to abandon the installation of smart meters in the state.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
