Report by a correspondent of the Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC)
On 22 March 2025, a Conference against Electricity Privatisation and Smart Meters was organized in Nashik (Maharashtra) by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC), along with unions of electricity workers, engineers, and officers. Activists of AITUC, CITU, AISF, Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation, All India Bank Employees Association, and pension associations also participated in the meeting in big numbers.
As per a work order issued by Mahavitaran (Maharashtra Discom) in September 2023, contracts of prepaid smart meters have been given to four private companies: Adani, Genus, Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC), and Montecarlo. In Nashik and Jalgaon districts, NCC has been given a contract for installing 28,86,622 meters worth Rs. 3,461 crores. Smart meters are already being installed in various places in Nashik.
The meeting was addressed by Com. Arun Mhaske of Maharashtra State Electricity Workers Federation (MSEWF), Com. Girish, Joint Secretary of Kamgar Ekta Committee, Com. DL Karad, State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Adv. Abhay Taksal, State Executive Member of the Communist Party of India, Aurangabad, Sanjeewani, Vice President of the Lok Raj Sangathan and Com. VD Dhanavate, District President of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).
After the main speeches, the floor was opened for questions and interventions. Participants asked speakers further questions about smart meters and solar power. The meeting ended with slogans of Long Live Workers’ Unity and Long Live Workers’-Consumers’ Unity!
We present the main points that emerged in the meeting.
Robbery of the people to further enrich big capitalists
From the website of the National Smart Grid Mission, www.nsgm.gov.in it is clear that the government intends to replace good, functioning meters by 22.3 crore smart meters! A simple calculation tells us that the plan is to force the people to pay around Rs. 2.5 lakh crore to install smart meters that are totally unnecessary, and will, in fact help the big capitalists to continue looting them every month.
In this day and age, electricity is a fundamental need without which no one can lead a dignified life. While the government should invest in ways to make electricity accessible and affordable to all, they are instead turning the service of electricity into a business to maximise the profits of the biggest capitalists who are eyeing this sector.
Smart meters are a way to privatise electricity distribution. The plan is to hand over their installation, operation and maintenance for 8-9 years to private companies. To fool the people, governments have been claiming that these meters are not prepaid. However, once installed, they can be converted to prepaid with a simple computer command. As in the case of prepaid mobiles, once the charge is over, electricity will automatically be disconnected remotely.
Smart meter allows charging different rates for different times of the day. The Central government has already announced the plan to introduce ‘Time of Day’ (ToD) tariff system under which rate will be 10-20% higher during evening hours and lower during day time. Consumers will come to know that the tariff has increased only after they get the bill. Government has already announced that subsidies and cross subsidies will no more be available in power tariff rates, as a result of which electricity bill for consumers who are currently getting those benefits will certainly go up substantially. Thus, electricity will no longer be affordable to poor families.
Smart meters are being installed directly for new connections in various places, without informing consumers. In Maharashtra they are installing smart meters by calling them TOD meters. Those who previously received bills of Rs. 500-600 are now getting bills of over Rs. 2000 for the same amount of consumption!
The cost of the meters, which is Rs. 12,000 to 13,000, will also be recovered from consumers over 8-9 years. That is, we will have to pay around Rs. 110-180 per month in our bill towards the cost of the meter.
The Maharashtra government has given smart meter contracts worth more than Rs. 3000 crores for Nashik and Jalgaon region alone!
Maharashtra government’s generation plants have been deliberately neglected over many years, and most of the power is bought from private power generating companies at much higher rates. Hydroelectric power plants generate electricity at much lesser cost compared to thermal power plants. Now, the government is planning to hand them over to private companies. It has already started to outsource 329 substations to private companies. Many private companies have started correspondence with the Government of Maharashtra expressing their keen interest in taking over electricity distribution in 16 cities of Maharashtra.
Inspiring struggles have been going on all over the country!
Since 2014, the Central government has been trying to accelerate electricity privatisation through the Electricity (Amendment) Bill. However, it has not been able to pass this bill in the parliament owing to the fierce struggle of electricity workers, farmers and citizens. Currently, electricity workers are opposing electricity privatisation in Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana, and other states. Considering workers’ and public opposition, governments are adopting backdoor methods of privatisation such as installing smart meters.
There have been huge protests of workers and consumers against smart meters in Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and many other places. In Maharashtra, consumers and workers have conducted huge demonstrations in Gadhinglaj, Kolhapur, and Kudal (Sindhudurg), forcing the authorities to stop smart meter installation till further discussion with people. Many Struggle Committees have been formed in different cities like Nagpur, Pune and Thane and they have held demonstrations to oppose smart meters.
In Mumbai and surrounding areas, KEC has held meetings and demonstrations along with other organisations to educate people about the dangers of smart meters and oppose their installation.
The people of Vishakhapatnam, including women and children, have been bravely protesting against the privatisation of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited for the past five years! They put up such a fierce fight that they did not allow the finance minister to step outside the airport when he landed in Vishakhapatnam for undertaking work related to privatisation. They have succeeded so far, only because they united across union and party affiliations and mobilized the people at large.
Similarly, in 2021, the workers and citizens of Jammu and Kashmir organized morchas and demonstrations against electricity privatisation in the cold months of winter, even in sub-zero temperatures. Electricity workers ceased all fault repairs as part of their protest, with the support of local citizens. The government called in the military to repair faults, but the military simply could not do it, leading to blackouts in many places. Ultimately, the government was forced to accept the demands of electricity workers.
How much can we depend on our elected representatives of various parties?
The answer is simple – NOT AT ALL! Further, it is not just one party that is implementing the smart meter policy. It is not just the BJP that is ruling both in the Centre and in states like Maharashtra that is implementing the LPG policy. According to data from the website of the National Smart Grid Mission, www.nsgm.gov.in, 7 lakh smart meters have already been installed in Jammu and Kashmir (by the National Conference government), 14 lakhs in Punjab (by the AAP government), 3.25 lakh in Himachal Pradesh (by the Congress Government), 3.4 lakh in West Bengal (by the TMC government), and 1.3 lakh in Tamil Nadu (by the DMK government). Thus, various governments are implementing this policy. Even the privatisation agenda has been introduced and implemented by governments of different parties over the years.
People are facing all sided attacks. Every service – education, heatlh, electricity, and others – that the government is bound to render is being privatised and turned into a source of profit for capitalists. The government is collecting taxes through GST from people for everything they purchase. These taxes account for 60 percent of the funds that flow into government coffers but the money is not used to provide essential services to people.
What is to be done?
As an immediate task, we must build joint forums of workers and oppose the loot and exploitation of human and natural resources. All union, federations and people’s organizations should come together in this fight, irrespective of party or other affiliations.
We must make efforts to increase the consciousness of our activists and arm them with full knowledge so that they can actively spread it amongst the masses. We have a lot of strength, but we must make full efforts to reach the people. We must actively mobilise the women and youth and give them scope to release their initiative.
The lesson from all successful struggles is that when people have done that, they can fend off the impounding attack.
However, we must also realise that such successes are temporary. Governments are notorious for shamelessly going back on agreements reached at a huge cost in terms of sacrifices of people’s lives, time and energy and bring in the same policy in a slightly altered form.
It is imperative for us to realise that what we have in our country is not democracy for the people, but democracy for the ruling capitalist class. We have to work towards replacing the rule of the capitalists by the rule of workers, farmers and other toilers!