NOB- Seethampet agency news: The situation of using electricity smart meters in the Seethampet agency has become deplorable. Even if the bill is not paid on time even if it is paid late even if it has not been paid for two or three months, the electricity supply will be automatically cut off immediately. But one might think that this is normal. However, even if the said consumers pay the bills with a fine the electricity is not restored immediately. The department officials are raising their hands on this. With this, the ‘smart’ consumers are shaking their heads. In 2024 year, electricity smart meters were installed in business, residential and government offices in Manyam. Despite the consumer’s reluctance, about 1500 meters were installed in the mandal in the first phase. In Seethampet village, these meters were installed for 380 services on an experimental basis. However, consumers are confused about how much their electricity bill will be. Many complain that they used to receive electricity bills every month, but now they do not know how much electricity they are using. Moreover, they are expressing their concern that the electricity bills are coming in a higher amount. Generally, if the electricity bill is not paid on time, they have to pay a fine. Otherwise, the electricity staff goes to the homes of the consumers and warns them that the supply will be stopped. The current is cut off for the homes of the defaulters. The electricity supply is restored immediately after the bills are paid. However, the situation is different for consumers using smart meters. If the electricity bill is paid late, the supply is automatically stopped. No one knows when the electricity supply will be restored. After about three days, after the software expert who came from Srikakulam updated the system, power was restored to many homes in Seethampet. However, it is not known how many more days the supply will last in remote villages where the signal system is not available. A consumer from Seethampet village installed a solar panel system in his home under the Suryagarh scheme three months ago. Just then, the electricity staff installed this smart meter under Category-2. However, the power supply was recently cut off due to non-payment of the bill. As a result, the three-month bill of Rs. 8200 was paid online in one go. However, power has not been restored yet. When the consumer went to the local electricity substation and questioned about this, they gave inconsistent answers. The consumer is expressing their concern that they are sending him away saying that power will be restored soon. In 2024 year, the electricity department staff installed a smart meter at the residence of another consumer from Seethampeta village. However, the consumer has been paying his electricity bill online every month. Since he has been in the camp for the past two months, he has not been able to pay the bill on time. Due to this, the electricity supply to his house recently stopped. As a result, the consumer immediately paid his electricity bill online through his mobile. However, the electricity has not been restored yet. When the local electricity staff was contacted about this, they replied that they could not do anything and would inform the call center. Due to this, the victim had to turn back. There has been strong opposition from tribal groups in Seethampet Manyam to the use of smart meters in the past. They alleged that they were brought in to privatize the electricity sector. However, the previous YSRCP government did not back down on the process of installing smart meters. Along with government offices, they have been installed in secretariats, farmer service centers, business and commercial complexes under category-2, and the homes of household consumers using solar systems. However, the relevant staff is failing to resolve the problems arising in the use of these meters. The problems faced by consumers using smart meters have come to TRANSCo attention. A total of eight people have complained that their homes were cut off from power supply due to late payment of electricity bills. However, this problem is not within their jurisdiction. The power supply has not been restored yet due to the lack of link to the server in the smart meter. The problem will be resolved soon APEPDCL DEE Vishnu Murthy said.