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The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) have announced a new joint venture to implement, finance and operate the smart meter roll-out by power distribution companies.
The venture, called IntelliSmart Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, will lay the foundation for smart grids, which will be crucial to the government’s target of providing uninterrupted power supply in the country.
EESL was established in 2009 as a joint venture of NTPC Ltd, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation, and Power Grid Corporation of India. NIIF is a fund that invests in infrastructure and related sectors and currently manages around $4 billion in capital.
This joint venture comes in the backdrop of the Indian government’s plans to instal 25 crore smart meters in the next few years, with the aim of improving billing efficiencies.
Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL said: “India has embarked upon a mission to reduce AT&C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses), proven world over for enabling universal, transparent and responsible energy consumption, and smart meters can play a central role in enabling such an endeavour.
Sujoy Bose, Managing Director & CEO, NIIF, said the newly formed joint venture will support the efforts of the Indian power sector as it attempts to deliver continuous power to consumers. Smart meters will play a transformational role in bringing efficiencies and generating significant commercial benefits for power distribution companies, while at the same time empowering end-consumers to make an informed choice regarding power consumption, he said.
Installation of smart meters could also potentially help in increasing the revenues of distribution companies by Rs 1,10,400 crore. Currently, discoms' dues are estimated to be close to Rs 45,000 crore.
IntelliSmart officials said it will work with all stakeholders to procure, deploy and provide operations and maintenance for the smart meter infrastructure.
EESL has secured contracts for IntelliSmart to instal and maintain over 1 crore smart meters across various state discoms. Till date, EESL has deployed 6.25 lakh smart meters in India.
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