Power Minister urges Karnataka to roll out smart meters, reduce financial losses
Union Minister of Power Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday urged the Karnataka government to take steps to reduce annual financial losses of its power utilities and work towards implementing cost-reflective tariffs. He also suggested that pre-paid smart meters be saturated across all government establishments, including local bodies and colonies, by August 2025 in the State.
He conducted a comprehensive review of the power sector of the State, including the current status of power generation, transmission, and distribution.
The Minister also highlighted the importance of the timely clearance of financial dues from government departments. The non-clearance of power dues by government departments was one of the main reasons why Karnataka could not roll out smart meters under the Centre's Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme. Mr. Khattar stressed the need for a centralised payment mechanism for efficient management of government electricity dues.
He also advised early resolution of the right of way (RoW) issues impeding transmission infrastructure and called for the adoption of the compensation mechanism issued by the Government of India. RoW refers to the strip of land required by a utility for constructing, maintaining, and protecting the transmission lines.
The Minister was in Bengaluru for the Regional Conference for the Southern Region States/Union Territories (UT), which was attended by the Energy/Electricity Ministers of the States and Puducherry.
'The States should leverage the scheme announced in Union Budget 2025-26, including the scheme of ₹1.5 lakh crore interest-free loan to States for 50 years for infrastructure development,' the Union Minister said.
He also urged all States to submit proposals for the third phase of the Green Energy Corridor (GEC-III) and remarked that they should promote renewable energy coupled with storage solutions so as to have energy reliability and to collectively meet India's international climate commitments under the UNFCCC.
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