Bihar: Protests Spread Against ‘Forcible’ Installation of Smart Prepaid Meters in Rural Areas

Patna: Anil Razak, Doman Razak and dozens of other residents of a village in Bihar, were shocked when electricity supply in their and neighbouring villages was cut off on Friday (August 23) by the local officials of the energy department after they staged a protest against the forcible installation of smart prepaid meters.

This was not the first such case, as electricity supply of several villages was cut off in different districts in the state this month (August) itself after local villagers protested against installation of smart prepaid meters.

“Villagers are angry over the mandatory installation of smart prepaid meters. When an official team started installation, they protested against it. Soon electricity supply to three panchayats, including Nandlalpur, was cut off. It was resumed after hours, but water supply was badly affected as well. The electricity supply was cut off to put pressure on villagers not to protest. This is not a good move, the government must resolve complaints against the installation of smart meters, as the villagers’ allegations are based on some facts”, Razak, a resident of Nandlalpur under Kahalgaon block in Bhagalpur district, told this reporter.

Razak’s story was corroborated by the energy department’s engineer Dipak Choudhry. “We were forced to cut off electricity supply because villagers were protesting against smart prepaid meters despite the fact that it is to be installed in all houses”, he said.

On August 9, electricity supply of Milli Chak village under Bahadurpur block in Darbhanga district was cut off after villagers opposed and protested installation of smart
meters.

“The energy department officials punished us for protesting. Electricity supply of our village was cut off in the evening and we were forced to spend sleepless nights in this scorching summer.” Suresh Kumar, a villager, said.

Though the state government has been projecting the installation of smart meters in rural areas as a “successful model” for other states to follow, the ground reality is that, reports in local dailies (mostly Hindi), suggest that resentment is growing against forcible installation of smart meters and people across state, mainly in villages, have been
protesting against it.

Several people have alleged that their electricity bills doubled after installation of smart meters. In July 2024, when electricity of Phula Devi, a resident of Inayatpur village under Bandra block in Muzaffarpur, was cut off, she approached the local electricity office which informed her that electricity bill of Rs 76 lakh was pending.  She was shocked.

“It is a gift of smart prepaid meter. It was reported recently that a poor farmer and a daily wage labourer also got electricity bills of Rs 52 lakh and Rs 31 lakh, respectively, thanks to smart meters,” she said.

”We are facing trouble since there meters were installed. It is moving faster than expected, and our electricity bill has tripled. What can we as a consumers do, except complain,” Praveen Kumar Mishra, a resident of Rosra in Samastipur district, said. His neighbour Ritesh Sharma said smart meters were being installed for “economic exploitation” of common people.

“It is a serious issue as to why smart prepaid meters were not installed in offices of different government departments, official residences of officers, schools, college and residences of MLAs and MPs. Why is the government in a hurry to install smart prepaid meters in houses of common people?” said Surendar Prasad Singh, convenor of Vidhut Sudhar Sangharsh Morcha in Samastipur.

In Patna, several people complained that after smart meters, it has become regular that electricity supply was not resumed hours after being recharged. “This is a common problem for hundreds of consumers daily here after smart prepaid meters were installed,” said a resident.

Interestingly, a report that went viral on social media in early August (this month), said while government officials, along with private agencies, were forcibly installing smart prepaid meters in houses of common people, a smart meter had not been not installed at official residence of Bihar Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav in Patna.

Last November (2023), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had directed the Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL) officials to complete the installation of smart meters in all households by 2024-end. But now, in view of difficulties following growing people’s anger and protests against it, the government has extended the target till 2025.

According to the state-wise smart metering status data of National Smart Grid Mission of the Union Ministry of Power, 40,01,215 smart prepaid meters were installed in Bihar till August 24. The total smart meters sanctioned were 1,72,08,939 for the state.

As per reports, protests against smart meters are going on other states as well, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.