Bhat Yasir
In Kashmir, thousands of workers like Ali Mohammed Khan from downtown Srinagar have been highly worried post the installation of smart meters in their area. “Earlier, in areas with poorer people, they charged a flat rate, but it has become very tough for us to pay these heightened bills, but it looks tougher times area ahead as the department intends to install prepaid meters now,” said 61-year-old Khan.
Smart electricity meters is a concept borrowed from the western countries. One of the first countries to install smart meters was in Italy. Italy began rolling out smart meters in the early 2000s, with the aim of modernizing its electricity grid and improving efficiency.
The Italian government mandated the installation of smart meters for all electricity consumers, including residential and commercial users. By the mid-2000s, millions of smart meters had been deployed across the country, making Italy one of the pioneers in smart meter technology, however, this installation has been met with protests and legal challenges in many western countries forcing the government to halt the process and make the meters a choice based concept.
Countries like USA and France have also halted the installation. The civil society groups in several countries highlighted a particular aspect of the government-corporate relationship. News reports from the United States of America quoting critics stated that that the installation of smart meters is influenced by corporate interests. There have been claims that governments support the rollout of smart meters due to partnerships or financial arrangements with these companies.
Civil rights activists have also expressed concerns including privacy, health risks associated with electromagnetic radiation, data security, potential cost increases, and perceived limitations on consumer choice.
In their paper, they have investigated the levels of RF-EMF radiation emitted by smart meters, as well as on potential health effects associated with such exposure. The paper further discusses findings related to biological effects of RF-EMF radiation.
Continuous exposure to RF-EMF radiation from smart meters, according to health experts, may raise the risk of a number of illnesses, including as cancer, neurological conditions, and reproductive problems.
There may be a connection between exposure to RF-EMF and a higher risk of cancer, especially brain tumours and leukemia, according to research. Though, the research has been unable to prove a clear causal connection between exposure to RF-EMF from smart meters and unfavourable health consequences, these concerns have led to public demonstrations, legal challenges, and advocacy efforts.
While protests haven’t halted smart meter rollouts entirely, they have prompted utilities and policymakers to address issues, implement opt-out programs, and engage with communities to address their concerns.
Kashmir’s tryst with smart meters
In Jammu Kashmir, the smart meters were rolled out in 2022 with immense opposition from various quarters of the society, mostly the poorer sections of people.
Hundreds of protests were staged against the installation of smart meters, however, the department did not roll back the smart meter policy.
“Smart Meters are the next leap in technology. They automatically post user consumption every 15 minutes. While it helps in automatic bill generation on one side, it helps the consumer to understand his usage pattern better on the other side. The fact that manual intervention will be totally removed from the bill generation process, is going to be the icing on the cake. Consumers in general are going to see the benefits of the whole process eventually. Also, it allows for additional parameters like Maximum Demand, Voltage Profile and Current Profile for installations to be viewed and analyzed remotely,” the concerned department’s website reads.
The Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL), last year, in a statement said, it has reached a “significant achievement” by installing approximately 80,000 smart meters in Kashmir. The corporation aims to install nearly 650,000 meters in total, targeting complete installation across the region within the next two years.
The KPDCL last year asked over 50,000 smart meter users to switch from postpaid to prepaid mode, with the threat of disconnection looming otherwise. A senior KPDCL official noted the directive from the Union Power Ministry to “convert all power connections to prepaid mode by 2025, indicating a nationwide shift.”
Regarding prepaid smart meters, the official explained, “households receive bills based on their usage, allowing for prepayment and updates via SMS and an app. Disconnection won’t occur immediately if the prepaid amount is depleted; instead, customers are granted a grace period to recharge. As the official stated, “Over 57,000 postpaid smart meters in Kashmir would be changed over to prepaid mode in the first phase.”
This installation and now the conversion of smart meters has burdened many like Bashir Ahmed Mir who is from Rajbagh, Srinagar. Bashir Ahmed, who vends fruits near Lal Chowk Srinagar said, “The purpose of smart meters is yet to be understood. Our bills are surging, our expenses are barely manageable because of this new burden of electricity.”
Kashmir, for Hamid Shafi Khan, a researcher in sociology at Bhopal University, is a place where the disparity in electricity consumption among the poorest and the richest is scarce. “In winters almost everybody needs and uses the same amount of electricity. Heaters, water heaters, blankets, may be the poor consume more electricity considering the availability of other avenues to the rich, but this prepaid system will hit poor the worst,” said Hamid.
He feels that previous regimes in Kashmir had smartly distributed the areas into metered, non-metered, and others paid flat rates. Hamid observes, “Previously, areas in Kashmir were strategically categorized into metered, non-metered, and flat-rate payment zones, factoring in the economic status of each locality. However, there appears to be a blurring of these distinctions under current governance.”
He feels that prepaid smart meters present a novel approach to managing energy consumption, but their impact on energy inequality warrants closer examination.
“The financial strain placed on low-income households is one major area of worry. In Kashmir, we are already seeing that the burden is increasing on the economically downtrodden. Furthermore, prepaid smart meters impact consumer behaviour and energy consumption trends, turn of heaters in times of needs,” said Hamid, who is writing a paper on the impact of smart meters in Kashmir.
“This will undoubtedly exacerbate inequality, mirroring trends observed in Western contexts. Now, an additional fault line has emerged in Kashmir,” remarked Hamid. Hamid Shafi Khan pointed out that initiatives lacking public consultation frequently spark protests, lamenting, “But who listens now?”. He believes that such campaigns merely require effective PR strategies on social media platforms, given the abundance of Facebook pages in Kashmir capable of advocating for these campaigns as essential.
He feels that the need to explore the policy implications of prepaid smart meters for energy inequality is crucial. “This involves assessing the effectiveness of regulatory frameworks governing prepaid metering systems and their ability to address socio-economic disparities in energy access and affordability,” said Hamid.
Jawaharlal Nehru preached throughout his whole life that the only way to achieve justice is to ensure that every citizen receives the same services and benefits from the government, regardless of their social or economic status, while B.R. Ambedkar who wrote the Indian Constitution said, On the equality of all, not only before the law but also in the allocation of the nation’s resources, is based the future welfare of India.