Taking suo motu cognisance of the tripping of smart meters and citing gross violation of UPERC electricity code 2005, the power regulator has issued show-cause notice to the UP Power Corporation Limited and its five subsidiaries.
The UP Electricity Regulatory Commission has sought detailed report of the incident, including root cause analysis of this lapse along with the number of consumers whose power supply was interrupted..
The power regulator has also sought information about the time taken to restore supply to all the affected consumers.
“The regulator is of the view that the licensee (UPPCL) has violated the terms and condition of the licence, provisions of UP Electricity Regulatory Commission electricity supply code 2005 and orders of the regulator regarding taking appropriate measures for ensuring smooth roll out of smart meters, thereby causing inconvenience to the consumers and also posing security risk to the power grid stability and therefore are liable for penal action under Indian Electricity Act, 2003,” the notice said.
The UPERC further said: “The accountability of the person/institution responsible for the lapse should also be included in the report along with the remedial measures which would be taken to ensure that such incident are not repeated in future.”
The regulator, in the show-cause notice, said, “Why action under Section 142 of the Indian Electricity Act, 2003 read with UP Electricity Reforms Act, 1999 should not be initiated against you (UPPCL) for violation of the provision of the  UP Electricity Regulatory Commission electricity supply code 2005, licence condition and other orders of the commission and the fine/penalty be imposed?”
The power regulator pointed out  that “UPERC in its order while approving the smart meter rollout plan of UPPCL had raised query and had expressed concern regarding backup for meter reading/billing in case of smart meter communication failure”.
The power regulator also pointed out that while according approval to the terms of the roll-out plan submitted by the UPPCL in its proposal, had categorically stated that the security and privacy of the consumer data had to be ensured.