IN South Mumbai, BEST (electricity distribution company) has postponed the work of installing smart electricity meters. This company has 10.8 lakh residential and commercial consumers and it has already installed 3 lakh smart meters. All the houses and shops where these meters have been installed complain that they are getting double or triple electricity bills than before. The opposition of consumers is so strong that BEST has had to postpone this project of installing smart electricity meters. This 'postponement' was necessary because assembly elections are going to be held in Maharashtra after a few days.

Amidst the news of the government forcefully installing smart meters in Ranchi, there is also a news that a BPL consumer named Neha Kumari in Jagdishpur block of Bhagalpur district of Bihar has been sent an electricity bill of Rs 64 lakh and her complaint is not being heard anywhere. In Bihar, complaints of looting consumers and fraudulent billing through smart meters have increased a lot.

These smart meters are being manufactured by Adani and Tata's corporate companies. In Uttar Pradesh, the Vidyut Vitran Nigam has cancelled the tender of Adani Group worth Rs 25,000 crore for installing smart prepaid meters because Adani was charging Rs 10,000 per meter. The corporation believes that the price of these meters is much higher than the actual cost.

There has been a flood of protests against the installation of these smart meters across the country and consumers are uprooting these meters and demanding the installation of old meters. The electricity distribution companies (DISCOMs) of various states are also not in favour of the smart electricity meter project. But the BJP government at the centre is adamantly in favour of this project. It says that this is necessary for the 'modernisation' (read 'privatisation') of the power sector. But the government has no answer to what kind of 'modernisation' is this, which is wreaking havoc on consumers!

The BJP government says that consumers should not oppose the new smart meters because there is no difference between the old and the new ones. But the BJP government is silent on the fact that if there is no difference between the two meters, then why is an effort being made to spend Rs 2.80 lakh crore to replace 28 crore meters in the country. Ultimately, who will benefit from this expenditure?

The whole 'Ram Kahani' is hidden in the answer to this question. Since these smart meters are being made by Adani and Tata, the direct benefit of replacing the old meters will go to Adani and Tata. The money, of about Rs 2.80 lakh crore, which should have been used for social welfare works for the general public, instead is being put into the coffers of these two corporates.

But the matter does not end here. The real issue is the privatisation of the power sector and creating a market for corporate companies. These meters are being linked to a pre-paid scheme, which means that these meters (like mobiles) will have to be recharged first -- that is, when the money is finished, the power is cut off! If the smart meter shows no balance due to any technical fault of the agency, then your electricity will be cut off and you will have to pay a fine to get it reconnected.

But the danger does not end here. If the power sector is privatised, the work of electricity distribution and determining its rates will also be done by Adani and Tata's corporate companies and these companies will be free to sell electricity at high prices to earn maximum profit. The Electricity Regulatory Commission will become ineffective and the government will have no power to control their prices. Cross subsidy, due to which the poor, domestic consumers and farmers get cheap electricity today, will stop. These economically weak sections will not be in a position to bear these prices. Along with this, the BJP government is also going to link the electricity prices to Time of Day (TOD), which means that electricity will be expensive at night, whereas everyone uses electricity maximum at night.

All these provisions are in the anti-people electricity amendment bill proposed by the BJP government and the project of installing smart meters across the country is a part of this. The life span of these meters is only seven years. Just like mobiles stop working after a few years, similarly it will be necessary to replace these meters after seven years. Today the government is paying money from its treasury, tomorrow the consumers will have to pay from their pockets. Today the price of these meters is Rs 10,000, after seven years their price will be more than double.

Today more than 70 per cent of the electricity distribution across the world is in public ownership, which makes it possible to give cross subsidy and weaker sections get electricity at affordable prices. But in our country, the BJP government is moving towards eliminating cross subsidy and privatising the entire electricity distribution work. Expensive electricity will also adversely affect the food grain production and food security of the country. Today the country is at 105th position in the Global Hunger Index. Expensive electricity will further lower this rank. It is clear that this policy will make the corporates rich and the poor even more poor. This policy is a conspiracy to push the country into darkness.

Electricity is a basic need for the common people, without which the development of human civilization cannot be imagined. If any government tries to deprive the common people of this basic need, then such a government will be called uncivilized and barbaric. To advance civilization, it is necessary to ensure the departure of such an uncivilized government. History shows that this is possible with the mobilisation of the common people and political will power.