Articles · Working Committee member, EEFI
Kerala sets a precedent in smart-meter implementation
P. V. Lathish
TOTEX would have leased metering to a vendor. CAPEX, KSEB staff, K-FON and C-DAC tools cut the price and kept the utility whole.
KSEB first went to tender under the RDSS TOTEX model. Metering and revenue would have left the Board. EEFI named that split as privatisation of distribution by another name, agitated, and placed an alternative before the Kerala government.
The TOTEX tender of 1 April 2023 for 37 lakh meters was valued at ₹2,400 crore. The lowest bid came in 44.8 percent above estimate, at ₹3,475 crore. Monthly charges to the vendor would have sat on the consumer for 93 months.
On 25 August 2023 the Chief Minister and the Energy Minister accepted EEFI’s CAPEX path: KSEB staff to install, K-FON to carry the data, the Board’s own data centre, own billing, a first lot of three lakh meters for commercial and industrial consumers, and a request to the Centre to permit the model.
Bids under that model opened on 17 January 2025. Package-1 came 23.74 percent below estimate; Package-2, 55.5 percent below. Single-phase meters under TOTEX had been priced about a third higher; LT-CT meters more than double. SMITHA software from C-DAC and CPRI replaced proprietary test suites. SEEMA HES from C-DAC is under pilot at no licence cost.
EEFI was accused of opposing technology. The Board now buys the meter and keeps the system. That is the precedent for every DISCOM being pushed into AMISP contracts.