Himachal Electricity Board Employees and Pensioners Protest Against Smart Meter Directive
In Himachal Pradesh, electricity board employees and pensioners have protested against the directive to replace meters on a priority basis. The protest took place outside the Chief Engineer Office, Mattansiddh.
The directive issued by the Chief Engineer (Operations) of the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board, Hamirpur Zone, instructed that old electricity meters of employees and pensioners be replaced on a priority basis. During the protest, Nitish Bhardwaj, state president of the HP Electricity Board Employees’ Union, former head Kameshwar Datt Sharma, Heera Lal Verma, and senior vice president of the Electricity Pensioners Forum Kuldeep Kharwada addressed the crowd and opposed the directive and smart meters.
They said that smart meters are an expensive technology and unnecessary for the general public. They claimed that the initiative is being pushed under the Electricity Amendment Bill 2025 in favor of privatization and private companies. The protesters alleged that the board management is imposing smart meters across the state to benefit private companies, creating an additional financial burden of around ₹2,500 crore, which will be recovered from consumers through electricity bills.
The union and pensioners’ forum demanded that the discriminatory order for priority installation of smart meters at employees’ and pensioners’ homes be withdrawn immediately. They warned that if the order is not revoked, a massive sit-in protest will be held at the Chief Engineer Operations Office in Dharamshala on March 9.
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