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IntelliSmart bags 6.7 million smart meter order in India – ‘largest of its kind’

In the country’s latest rollout bid, India’s IntelliSmart has announced a smart meter contract of 6.7 million prepaid smart meters in 14 districts, which they claim is the largest rollout the country has seen to date.

Indian smart metering company IntelliSmart Infrastructure has been awarded a contract by electric utility Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) to install 6.7 million prepaid smart meters in 14 districts of West Uttar Pradesh.

According to Intellismart, the project is the largest of its kind in India so far and marks the second smart metering project for IntelliSmart after Assam.

The project will take place in the districts of Amroha, Baghpat, Bijnor, Bulandshahar, GB Nagar, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Hapur, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur, Saharanpur, Sambhal and Shamli.

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Speaking on the announcement, Anil Rawal, the company’s managing director and CEO, said, “We are cognizant that, being the largest of the smart metering projects tendered this far in the country, its timely delivery will be the benchmark for the success of the RDSS programme.

“This becomes our second smart metering project after Assam. At this juncture, when smart meter tenders are being rolled out by the states, this win reinforces the sector’s confidence in the capabilities of IntelliSmart to deliver large projects while ensuring cost advantages essential for the improvement of the operational and financial efficiency of the discoms.”

The project falls under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), which has two major components:

  1. Financial support for prepaid smart and system metering, as well as upgrading distribution infrastructure
  2. Training and capacity building alongside other enabling and supporting activities.

Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to distribution companies to upgrade infrastructure and smart metering systems, based on pre-qualifying criteria and reform benchmarks.

This marks the latest in Indian smart metering, a priority for the country due to its role in data communication across assets.

Earlier this week, companies Airtel and Secure Meters announced the deployment of 1.3 million NB-IoT enabled smart meters in India, which marked the first of such tech being deployed with a 2G and 4G fall-back option to ensure continuous supply.

The installation of smart meters will be accompanied by service cabling and auxiliaries, implemented in TOTEX (Capital Expenditure and Operational Expenditure) mode under the Design Build Finance Own Operate and Transfer (DBFOOT) arrangement, a project mode appointing one contractor to design, construct and arrange financial resources.