Agartala, 11th August 2026: The work on smart meters in the state started during the Left Front tenure in 2015, which was never implemented properly. The Indian Audit and Accounts Department has also flagged gross financial irregularities in the work order for smart meters worth Rs 80 crore.
This was informed by Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath. Addressing a press conference, the Power Minister said that for the last few days, power consumers have been expressing displeasure over the hike in electricity bills.
“The hike in electricity bills is completely done by the Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission (TERC), which is under the control of the Supreme Court. Every year, the TERC fixes the amount for TSECL for purchasing power, maintenance and salaries of TSECL. TERC also creates slabs for single-phase, three-phase, commercial and industrial consumers, and the state government has no link with this. After that, the Commission gives advertisements regarding power bill rates and details, and gives dates for taking suggestions. After everything, the Commission decides the fixed charge, FPPCA (Fuel and Power Purchase Cost Adjustment) and energy bill. Then TSECL prepares the power bill and has no power to increase or decrease the bill,” the Power Minister informed.
He also informed that soon after consumers started expressing their displeasure, Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha, Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath, Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy and other officials held a meeting. “The government cannot be a silent spectator. Soon, we will sit again to solve the problem and see how to help the consumers,” he said.
Targeting the opposition, the Minister said that they are hatching a conspiracy by forgetting their past and confusing the people.
“On 9 July 2017, during the Left Front tenure, the then Power Minister Manik Dey installed smart meters across the state to ensure full and timely power bill collection. Smart meters were started during the Left Front government in 2017. The then Chief Minister Manik Sarkar was a long-term Chief Minister, and he must have raised that smart meters were started by them. They are confusing the people.
“In 2015, they had given a work order of Rs 80 crore 7 lakh 68 thousand to Wipro and M/s J and J Powercom System Limited. In the work order, it was said that within two years they would complete it. Even after two years, and even after 27 months, they supplied the items and symbolic work started. TSECL handed over the control to Wipro earlier. Out of 43,000 smart meters, only 34,300 are working. However, within a period of three months, these smart meters also stopped due to technical glitches,” said the Minister.
The Minister also pointed out a report of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, which stated that financial irregularities on the part of the company not only resulted in infructuous expenditure of Rs 42.76 crore but also led to the extension of undue favour to the contractor.
