West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday announced that the state power department will introduce prepaid smart meters to all electricity consumers in a phased manner.
“We started in small stages with government institutions, government schools and government employees. There are a lot of misconceptions. Most of them (spread) by leftists. They did it in Tripura as well. But Tripura has introduced smart meters. They are smart,” Adhikari said while launching a mobile application designed to report power theft.
He said: “I even had an opinion (about smart meters) when I was opposition leader. I suggested a slow approach and discussions with people. When people are convinced that there is no negative impact, no inflated bills, and that there is a grievance cell and support from a redress cell if the bill is inflated, things will slowly return to their place.”
The previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government introduced smart meters in all offices of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited (WBSEDCL) in October 2024 and gradually brought other government offices and local consumers in several districts under the programme. Four private companies obtained contracts to install and maintain smart meters.
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Kolkata has remained outside this system because CESC, owned by the Goenka group, supplies power to the city and its surrounding areas.
Adhikari as well as CPI(M) leaders staged protests when several local consumers in Howrah, North 24 Parganas and East Burdwan districts alleged that their bills had risen two to three times. The cases were also filed in the Calcutta High Court.
Political protests and public backlash forced the TMC government in June 2025 to stop new installation of smart meters for domestic consumers and allow them to return to traditional meters.
Similar public protests over the use of local smart meters have taken place in some BJP-ruled states, including Uttar Pradesh.
