Many domestic consumers have said power has been cut despite having cleared bills much in advance. However, the department was not allowed to initiate the disconnection phase until 11 a.m.
Lucknow, August 13: Uttar Pradesh Power Minister Shrikanth Sharma ordered a high-level investigation into the sudden ‘blackout’ in lakhs of homes on the night of the Janmashtami occasion. Thousands of smart meters were installed in many cities which cut the power supply to even those customers who had cleared their bills.
The Minister said, “If needed, a FIR would also be lodged against those who mishandled the control and command centre at the UPPCL headquarters in Lucknow.”
The minister was controlling the repair work to ensure that supply on the festival was restored early. He regretted the discomfort that was causing consumers to fuel. Meanwhile, Venkatesh Dwivedi, Director of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), tweeted that the EESL and L&T heads of state were put under suspension for dereliction of duty. The EESL, an Indian corporation government, is responsible for installing and maintaining smart meters.
When people were busy celebrating Janmashtami on Wednesday night, power went out in lakhs of homes in several cities, including Lucknow, as the smart meters began to display ‘disconnection due to non-payment of monthly arrears.’
Many domestic consumers have said power has been cut despite having cleared bills much in advance. However, the department was not allowed to initiate the disconnection phase until 11 a.m.
The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. (UPPCL) offices in various cities began to receive complaints from irate customers soon after the power was cut on Wednesday evening.
UPPCL senior officials warned state minister Shrikant Sharma, who in turn asked chairman Arvind Kumar to set up a high-level committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the smart meter disconnection on the day of the festival.
Initial investigation pointed to the hacking of computer IDs at the UPPCL headquarters in Lucknow as the reason for the power failure as well as some technical issues with smart meters.
In this connection, the Minister has sought a detailed report. Private companies have supplied and installed the smart meters to phase out obsolete meters, mainly to ensure a tamper-proof billing mechanism. During the first step, the UPPCL replaced old meters during Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Gautam Buddha Nagar with new meters.
