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UT to shift power meters outside houses in Sector 8
A senior UT official, who did not wish to be named, said , “The UT administration will be moving overhead power cables underground in Sector 8 as part of a pilot project, and the relocation of meters is part of the same project”
After laying underground power cables, the Chandigarh administration will be shifting meters outside houses in Sector 8 as part of a ₹2.52-crore pilot project.
A senior UT official, who did not wish to be named, said , “The UT administration will be moving overhead power cables underground in Sector 8 as part of a pilot project, and the relocation of meters is part of the same project.”
The project is expected to be completed within six months after the allocation of meters. “It will improve the distribution of electricity as people will no longer be able to tamper with the meters. It would also make it easier for department officials to take meter readings as they often encounter locked houses. Residents, too, groused about having to allow power department employees to enter their house to take readings.”
The department will be moving 468 single-phase meters and 874 three-phase meters. “The department is in the process of awarding the project to a company,” the official said.
“Underground cables will eliminate the hazard posed by overhead transformers and high-tension wires, which hang precariously on the edges of slip roads, road berms and parking lots in the sector. The existing power infrastructure in area was over 50 years old, and led to frequent breakdowns and disruption in supply. Now, there would be uninterrupted power supply in case of thunderstorms or heavy rains,” the officials said.
The Centre had approved ₹241 crore in May last year for the installation of smart meters in the city under the Smart Grid Project. Under the pilot project, around 24,000 smart meters have been installed in Sectors 29, 31, 47 and 48, Faidan, Ram Darbar, Hallomajra, Raipur Kalan, Makhan Majra and Daria villages and Industrial Area, Phases 1 and 2. All smart meters have been installed outside homes.
The administration had planned to replace all meters with smart meters in the 2022-23 fiscal, but the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has shelved the project as the UT electricity department is being privatised.
