Bengaluru: The govt Wednesday denied BJP’s allegations of a massive scam in the electricity smart meter project, asserting that the cost of each meter is fixed at Rs 4,998 and no extra charges would be levied.
“Escoms will not charge a rupee extra,” energy minister KJ George said, responding to BJP MLA CN Ashwath Narayan’s claim that Escoms plan to charge consumers more than Rs 17,000 per meter.
George also clarified that there were no plans to instal smart meters for the existing nearly 2.7 crore consumers in the state. He pointed out that other states receive a Rs 900 subsidy under the Centre’s Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), but Karnataka is ineligible due to pending dues from various departments, including panchayat raj and irrigation.
George accused Narayan of spreading false information to mislead people and denied any irregularities in the tendering process. He clarified that the contract was not awarded to a blacklisted firm, as alleged by BJP. “The firm was only barred for two years in Uttar Pradesh. That two-year period is over, and we awarded the tender to the firm as per rules,” George said.
On allegations that other states are charging less, Bescom managing director N Shiva Shankara attributed the price disparity to “different pricing models”. “In Karnataka, the cost of each smart meter would be Rs 4,998, and Escoms will bear Rs 75 monthly for software maintenance by the service provider for the next 10 years,” Shankara said. “In other states, they have divided the meter cost with the monthly maintenance charge. The other states charge a monthly fee of Rs 110 to Rs 148, including both software and meter cost. If we adopt a similar method, the cost per month will be Rs 116.”
He said the govt decided to collect the full cost from customers upfront instead of adding it to monthly bills to avoid additional interest and charges, he said. Shankara also said smart meters would be installed only for new and temporary connections. “The burden of technical maintenance cost (Rs 75 per month per meter) will be distributed among all consumers of the utility. It would be 0.01 paisa per bill,” he said.
George also dismissed allegations of corruption amounting to Rs 15,568 crore, saying: “When the estimated cost of the project is only Rs 997 crore, how can Rs 15,000 crore corruption happen?”
