Amid the call for boycotting Chinese products and services, Chinese smart power meters have come under scan in India.
The Union Power Ministry is reportedly not okay with using Chinese power meters as the country embraces upon the world’s largest electricity smart metering program.
Officials aware of the discussions around this say the government has reportedly found potential malware in these equipment.
“Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) shall not import Chinese smart meters, given that these are connected to the electricity distribution networks, which is a sensitive sector,” says the official.
The government is embracing on the smart meter program with an aim to raise Rs. 1.38 trillion in annual revenues to debt-hit discoms.
The move is also part of smart meters of the country’s proposed Rs. 3.5 trillion ‘Atal Distribution System Improvement Yojana (Aditya)’ scheme to bring down power woes to below 12%.
[Read More: Border Clashes Threaten China’s Role in Key Indian Projects]
EESL, in the last week, had paused a tender for supply of around 2 million smart meters from PT Hexing that has headquarters in China.
The department had placed a cancellation order after the UP state power body rejected procuring of smart meters from China.
“Our tender conditions are very clear. Any supplier needs to have a manufacturing facility in India to be eligible to supply to us,” says Saurabh Kumar, MD of EESL.
Under this rule, the government had waited for the company to update about its office establishment in India. With response till date, the department decided to put its order on hold.
EESL is a joint venture of NTPC Ltd, Rural Electrification Corp. Ltd, Power Finance Corp. Ltd (PFC) and Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd.
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