Tata Power wins 1.86 million smart meter order

Tata Power has won the smart meter order from the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited (CSPDCL) in eastern central India.

The installation of the smart meters will be in the city of Raipur, the state’s capital, and surrounding areas.

The contract with a value of Rs17.4 billion ($212 million) also includes the operation and maintenance of the smart meters over a 10-year period.

“[The project] is a testament to our execution expertise in delivering high value and specialised projects which are aimed at transforming the power distribution domain,” said Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD of Tata Power, about the award.

Have you read?
India’s Genus launches $2bn smart meter funding platform
Why India’s start-ups are driving energy sector innovation

The project is being executed under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) and is expected to improve the losses within the designated area and increase the revenue collection for state owned discom, which is responsible for providing electricity across the state of Chhattisgarh.

The award to Tata Power is one of three smart meter tenders covering different areas being made by CSPDCL, although the other two have so far not been publicised.

They nevertheless indicate the scale of awards which are required to meet India's 250 million smart meter rollout by 2025/2026 target in India.

In order to accelerate projects and control their costs under the RDSS, they can be executed on a ‘totex’ basis, which looks at the total costs over the operating life with no distinction between capex and opex.

Other smart metering rollouts Tata Power is involved include a 750,000 unit deployment for its customers in Mumbai.

In other recent news Indian smart metering company Genus has partnered with Singapore based investor GIC to set up a jv funding platform with a $2 billion initial pipeline.