INDORE: Smart meters are playing an instrumental role in hassle-free recovery of dues from areas, where number of defaulters has consistently been high. Remote collection of meter readings to remote disconnection and now helping Madhya Pradesh Paschim Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company Ltd (MPPKVVCL) recover dues without sweating it out — the power company is reaping multiple benefits from smart meters.According to officials, in past one month discom has managed to collect dues of over Rs1.60crore from higher-defaulter areas.Connections that were severed remotely in past one month are 3100. Total dues of Rs2.5 crore were pending. “Sixty four per cent of due amount has been recovered from consumers,” said discom superintendent engineer Subroto Roy.He said that they replaced all conventional meters with smart ones in two feeders including Rajwada and Parmanu Nagar, where number of defaulters were always high.“The recovery has been possible only because of smart meters that allow us to disconnect supply of defaulters remotely. This helped us in compelling defaulters to clearing dues,” he said, adding that consumer-staff disputes have also gone down as staff does not have to visit the area for disconnection. He said that with smart meters consumers have no options but to clear their dues to get supply restored. “This also saves us from unnecessary confrontation or dispute with consumers,” he added. Officials also said apart from power loss, which occurred due to tampering with meters or illegal tapping, use of smart meters has also helped discom increase billing efficiency. TNN

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