Karnataka bats for smart meters for all consumers

Bengaluru: After rolling out smart meters for temporary and new connections, the state govt is considering replacing the existing electricity meters with the new device after obtaining approval from the cabinet.
Revealing the state's wish to avail the benefits under the central govt's Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), which mandates the installation of smart meters at every installation, energy minister KJ George said Wednesday that a proposal will be placed before the cabinet in the coming days.
Karnataka is one of the two states that have not availed RDSS to date for the installation of smart meters. Even though the proposal to avail benefits under RDSS has been pending since 2021, the successive state govts have been non-committal as it would result in an additional burden on the consumers and state exchequer in the form of arrears from various stakeholders.
Currently, barring Karnataka and Telangana, all states have been covered under the RDSS scheme.
George explained that the deadline for the RDSS scheme is Dec, and the state is planning to avail its benefits.
"If the cabinet approves the decision, Karnataka must mandatorily install smart meters in all installations," the minister said.
The Centre will extend a 15% subsidy for installing the smart meters and another 60% subsidy to improve the transmission infrastructure. With the subsidy, the cost of smart meters is likely to come down from Rs 5,000 to less than Rs 1,000.
MSID:: 121934701 413 |

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

NDTV

26 minutes ago

• NDTV

Omar Abdullah Refuses To Divert Water, Punjab Governor's "Culture" Reply

New Delhi: Weeks after a war with Haryana, Punjab is now engaged in a similar conflict with Jammu and Kashmir, as the Union Territory's Chief Minister opposed the idea of diverting surplus water from three Western rivers of the Indus system to Punjab. Mr Abdullah, on Friday, was asked about the proposed construction of a 113 km canal to transfer surplus water from Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan to prevent it from flowing to Pakistan. Opposing to divert water to Punjab, the Chief Minister said, "Right now, Jammu is facing water scarcity. There is no water in the taps. Why should I send water to Punjab? Punjab already has three rivers as per the Indus Waters Treaty." He also invoked the 45-year-old dispute between the Punjab and J&K governments over the construction of the Shahpur Kandi barrage in Pathankot. "We have got some water after putting up a fight through the Shahpur Kandi barrage project, but now I will not allow diverting the water of Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab," he said. Reacting to this, Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria said that indulging in such a dispute is "not in our culture". "I don't think the water supply can be stopped just because someone is saying it. If this dispute had been between two countries, it would be acceptable. I can understand. But it is not possible in the same country. Some people get more share of water than others in the same country, I don't think this is in our culture," he said. Punjab Minister Ravneet Bittu also hit out at Mr Abdullah, questioning how he could stop the water supply as it is the Centre's decision. Punjab-Haryana water dispute The row over water sharing started after AAP-ruled Punjab refused to release more water to BJP-ruled Haryana, claiming the latter has "already used 103 per cent of its allocated share of water by March". The dispute reignited once again, with tensions escalating over the latest reduction in water supply from the Bhakra Nangal Dam. The Haryana government has demanded 8,500 cusecs of water; however, Punjab has declined the request, asserting that it doesn't have the water to spare. The Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has already slashed Haryana's daily water quota from 9,500 cusecs to just 4,000 cusecs. Defending this controversial move, Mr Mann stressed that Punjab is facing a water crisis of its own. He pointed out that Punjab's annual water accounting begins on May 21 each year and insisted that Haryana has already used up its allocation for the current cycle. According to him, the Ranjit Sagar Dam is 39 feet below last year's level, while the Pong Dam is down by 24 feet. "We don't have a single extra drop to spare," he said, underlining the severity of the water shortage in Punjab.

NDTV

26 minutes ago

• NDTV

Priyank Kharge Gets Foreign Ministry Clearance For US Travel After Denial

New Delhi: Congress leader Priyank Kharge on Saturday received the Centre's nod to travel to the United States, two days after he wrote a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar seeking clarity on why the clearance for his official visit was denied. Mr Kharge, the Karnataka Minister, was scheduled to visit the US from June 14 to June 27. He was expected to lead delegations to the Boston Bio 2025 and this year's Design Automation Conference in San Francisco. Mr Kharge, the son of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, was in France when he was denied clearance. He wrote a two-page letter to Mr Jaishankar on Thursday and said his visit was aimed at "strengthening collaborations, attracting investments and creating employment opportunities" for Karnataka. "Denying a Cabinet Minister and the custodian of one of the world's largest technology clusters, the ability to carry out such official responsibilities without explanation, raises serious concerns. It is not only against the interests of the state but also undermines the spirit of cooperative federalism," he wrote in the letter, which he also shared on his official X account on Friday. I have written to the Minister of External Affairs, Sri. Jaishankar, seeking clarity on why political clearance for my official visit to the United States was denied. I do so with a deep sense of responsibility to the people of Karnataka, to whom I am duty-bound. The visit was… — Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) June 20, 2025 "The visit was planned around two significant international forums, the BIO International Convention in Boston and the Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco, as well as several official meetings with top companies, universities and institutions, where I was to represent the Government of Karnataka to explore collaborations, attract investments and create employment opportunities for the State," Mr Kharge said.

Hans India

2 hours ago

• Hans India

River water disputes: TG govt ready for dialogue with AP

Hyderabad: The Telangana Cabinet will meet on June 24 to finalize an action plan to find an amicable solution to the snowballing inter-state row over the Bankacharla project through a dialogue with Andhra Pradesh government, while keeping its option to fight for the state's needs. During an interaction with media persons before leaving for Hyderabad from New Delhi on Friday evening, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said that he did not want to develop animosity with the neighbouring state. He said he would prefer to resolve water disputes in a friendly atmosphere. In the wake of rising river water disputes among southern states, particularly AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra, the Chief Minister said: 'Our policy is to continue good relations with all states and find a solution to the river water disputes with each state through talks only'. Revanth Reddy took a broadside at former chief minister and BRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao and T Harish Rao for politicizing the Banakacharla issue. He said that the Banakacharla issue was the result of KCR and Harish Rao agreeing to AP lifting water from Godavari at the Apex Council meeting in 2016. The official meetings held between AP and Telangana CMs in 2019 also sowed the seeds of exploitation of Godavari water by the neighbouring state. Revanth Reddy questioned the silence of the former chief minister KCR on the GOs issued by the AP government in 2016 and 2018 for Banakacharla. The CM took a swipe also at Union Minister for Coal G Kishan Reddy for not coming forward to protect the interests of Telangana from the exploitation of Godavari and Krishna water by Andhra Pradesh. 'Kishan Reddy is tutor of KTR and KTR is playing a liaison officer role for the Union Minister,' he alleged. Revanth Reddy criticized KCR for not irrigating even 50,000 acres by spending more than Rs 2 lakh crore on Kaleshwaram. The multi-crore Kaleshwaram project was left unused after the damages to the three barrages of Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla. Further, the Chief Minister alleged that the Union government was indifferent towards Telangana in sanctioning the state's irrigation projects and allocating funds for them. He wondered why the Centre was proactive in releasing funds liberally to the Polavaram project, although Telangana had raised strong objections. He sought to know the Centre's main intention in approving the Banakacharla project without water allocations. 'PM Narendra Modi needs the support of AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu to run the coalition government at the Centre. The BRS wanted to raise the water disputes to survive in Telangana politics', he said.