Indore gears up to become the first city with over a lakh smart electric meters

When one thinks of Indore, what comes to mind is a whole barrage of awards, a plethora of culture and an abundance of colloquial cuisine. What doesn't come to mind however, is electricity and how the city functions on it. To make Indore synonymous with electricity and conservation of it, authorities have geared up to install almost a lakh smart electric prepaid meters in housing complexes over the next two weeks.

What's the update?

As far as electricity standards are concerned, Indore isn't really a city that has an issue in that department. However, with the help of the new smart meters, house owners will have the capacity to top up their electricity meters and expend it at a slow rate. Though the previous concept of having reading meters outside houses was doing well enough, it wasn't a secure enough method and was easily tampered with.

One might ask the question, exactly what is the need for such a system. The answer is actually quite simple, the older reading meters were unsafe and it was easy for just about anyone to 'steal' electricity from someone else. To take a stand against this, a company created the smart meters and their experiment seems to have been fruitful.

How do smart electricity meters help?

The smart meters, of which 97,000 have already been installed, aim to contain power pilferage and cuts the losses incurred by distributing companies, thereby increasing revenue. It is beneficial for home owners as well, in that it allows them to top up as much electricity as they want.

Since each smart meter has a unique ID, they can be monitored, blocked or even be given increased power to handle more load. The unique ID also makes it a lot more secure. A huge benefit is that if there is something wrong with the system, it can be remotely fixed by the main server connection, removing any hassle.

Knock Knock

Indore is a city that we all know for cleanliness, but soon, it will be known for more than that. It will also be known for heralding a wonderful change in our day to day lives and how we view electricity, one of the most important aspects of our life today.