Latest news with #AdaniTransmissionStepSevenLimited
The Hindu
31-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
CPI(M) collects signatures against smart meters in Tirupati
The Communist Party of India–Marxist leaders on Thursday organised a programme to collect signatures for a public referendum against smart prepaid meters at Yashoda Nagar Community Hall in Tirupati. 'Andhra Pradesh government is trying to rob people in the name of smart meters. Adani Transmission Step Seven Limited has started installing their devices and removing old meters at two crore houses in the State,' CPM district Secretary Vandavasi Nagaraju said. Adani company employees are installing smart prepaid meters when no one is available in the house, he added. The CPM has been protesting against this for the past two months as a part of the State-wide agitation under the auspices of the Left parties. CPI Executive Member N.D. Ravi said, 'Minister for Energy Gottipati Ravikumar had instructed the officials recently not to install smart meters without the consent of the people, while Chief Secretary K. Vidyanand directed the officials to complete the installation of smart meters soon.' If smart meters are fixed, the big companies in the country will take money from the people in the form of advances worth ₹23 lakh crore,' he said and urged the public to oppose the installation of the smart meters.
The Hindu
01-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
CPI(M) opposes installation of smart prepaid meters by Adani Transmission Step Seven in A.P.
CPI(M) State secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao and State committee member D. Kasinath on Sunday strongly opposed the installation of smart prepaid meters for LT1 domestic electricity connections in Andhra Pradesh. The CPI(M) leaders said that the AP Central DISCOM (CPDCL) has already given the go-ahead to Adani Transmission Step Seven Limited to start installing the devices in selected subdivisions in AMRUT cities. Mr. Rao at a press conference here released a copy of the letter written by CPDCL Chief General Manager (Projects) K. Linga Murthy to Adani Transmission Step Seven Limited regarding the installation of the smart meters under the Revised Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). Mr. Rao termed it a 'gift' by the NDA government to the people on the occasion of completion of its first year in power and that the plan was to install the equipment in 4.10 million homes across the State in a phased manner. He said the stage has been set for exploitation of the people, and noted that by paving the way for installation of smart meters, the TDP, which had vehemently opposed the scheme in the past, has now betrayed the public by giving the installation a green signal. In the CPDCL jurisdiction, 10,28,000 homes in major cities and towns of Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts have been targeted. The CPI(M) leader said that the YSR Congress Party government had signed agreements for the installation of smart meters under pressure from the Centre and now the coalition government is following suit, adding that, 'the BJP, TDP and JSP were all complicit in the matter'. The installation of smart meters entailed a huge burden of nearly ₹25,000 crore on the public, and each device is costing ₹13,000. The NDA government has already imposed four types of adjustment charges, which resulted in a burden of approximately ₹15,485 crore on the people in the last nine months, Mr. Rao said adding that 'the smart meter plan included the collection of monthly rental charges ranging from ₹100 to ₹200 from each consumer for approximately seven-and-half-years.
