The agitation against smart electricity meters in Bihar gathered steam on Wednesday as the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) announced to launch a ‘uproot smart meter’ campaign across the state from October 1.

The people across various sections of the society have been complaining about being forced to pay more for electricity ever since smart pre-paid meters replaced the
previous analog and digital meters in which consumers had to pay after being billed for the usage.

Bihar RJD president Jagadanand Singh said: “We are launching ‘uproot smart meter’ agitation in the state from October 1. The state government started using it to check power theft, but is now using it to loot the people. A large number of complaints are pouring in from everywhere. The people believe that the smart meters have led to an unreasonable increase in their expenditure on electricity.”

Singh added: “The public is in trouble but the government is intensifying its efforts to install these smart meters despite people’s protest everywhere. Around 32.36 lakh smart meters have been installed in Bihar in comparison to 1.16 crore smart meters in the rest of the country. Kerala has already discarded such a project. Our party workers will agitate and demonstrate on the issue at all 534 block headquarters in Bihar.”

Bihar has 2.76 crore households and all are expected to install smart meters by the next year.

Singh pointed out that smart meters were being forcibly installed in Bihar because various private companies including the Adani Energy Solution Private Limited and the Nagarjuna Construction Company were involved in it.

He said: “These private companies paid a hefty amount to the government and the bureaucrats, and were now retrieving it from the public. The government was aiding them in this.”

The RJD pointed out that the pace of installing smart electricity meters was very high in Bihar in comparison to other states, and action was being taken against those who are not allowing it to be installed. Many of them were even arrested in different districts.

The RJD has already promised 200 units of free electricity if it comes to power in Bihar.

Demanding that chief minister Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) should immediately stop the installing of smart prepaid electricity meters if it cared about people’s woes, the RJD said that the consumers were chasing away meter installation workers and energy department officials at several places in Bihar.

Earlier, the Congress Seva Dal had embarked on a Patna to Bodh Gaya march from September 19 to 23 to protest the installation of smart meters.

Smart prepaid electricity meters are connected to the energy department servers and do not require manual meter readings. The consumption expenditure is deducted from the recharge done by consumers before using electricity. The power gets cut once the balance is over.