Jammu, Mar 27: The government on Friday said smart metering is being rapidly expanded across Jammu and Kashmir under the RDSS, covering all categories of consumers.
Replying to a query by MLA Vijay Kumar in the Legislative Assembly, the government, as reported by the news agency — Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said a total of 13,28,733 smart meters have been installed so far. Of these, 6,52,548 meters have been installed by KPDCL and 6,76,185 by JPDCL.
The government said the metering process will continue in non-metered areas as well as for irrigation pump sets across the Union Territory.
On tariff concerns, the department clarified that metered irrigation pump sets are billed on actual consumption recorded through meters. For unmetered consumers, charges are levied on a flat rate linked to sanctioned load as per norms set by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Responding to concerns over high charges for farmers, the government said electricity for small and marginal farmers is already being supplied at subsidised rates. It added that the tariff for agricultural consumers in Jammu and Kashmir is lower than that in neighbouring Punjab.
The response also said policy decisions are guided by tariff orders issued by the regulatory commission for the agriculture sector in the Union Territory. (KNO)
