The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission has asked the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to file a separate application before it for approval of the capital investment plan and detailed project report for Phase II of the smart metering project in the state.
The directive was issued in the commission’s recent order on the billing procedure, rent and deposit collection methodology for government consumers’ prepaid smart meters.
According to the February 6 order issued by the KSEB, Phase II will cover 35 million consumers (which could go up to 50 million, taking into account additions of new consumers) at an estimated cost of ₹3,260 crore. This phase will cover all consumers with consumption above 150 units per month except agricultural consumers, all prosumers and public EV charging stations, all KSEB offices, consumers opting for smart meters, monthly billed consumers and all new consumers except BPL consumers and agricultural consumers.
Under the RDSS scheme, Kerala has been approved for installation of 1.33 million smart meters in several phases. This phase applies to KSEB system meters and government customers and high voltage customers. Three million prepaid meters are being installed in the first phase. On March 2, KSEB announced that government departments are ready to switch to prepaid smart metering, which forms Phase I of the scheme.
Around 1.3 lakh consumers, including offices within government departments and public sector units, will switch to prepaid billing at this stage.
Published – March 6, 2026 09:47 IST
