Uttarakhand News Today: Electricity consumers of Uttarakhand are going to get a big relief. Along with the installation of smart prepaid meters in the state, the security amount deposited by the electricity consumers will be refunded. 

According to Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCAL), this facility will be provided to about 15 lakh 87 thousand electricity consumers. UPCAL has an average security deposit of Rs 2400 from each consumer, which will now be returned after the installation of smart prepaid meters. 

Benefits of Smart Prepaid Meters
UPCL has started the process of installing new smart prepaid meters in place of old meters. The aim of this step is to provide more transparent and convenient billing services to consumers. With prepaid meters, consumers will be able to recharge according to their electricity consumption in advance and will get rid of the inconveniences of billing. 

According to UPCL Managing Director Anil Kumar, consumers can get their deposited security amount in two ways after shutting down the old meter. The first option is that consumers can adjust this amount in their electricity bill. 

UPCL Managing Director Anil Kumar said that the second option is that they can deposit this amount as recharge of their prepaid meter, so that they can use electricity without additional recharge.

Refund of security amount
UPCL has deposited security amount of about Rs 1200 crore of consumers. This amount will be given to the consumers when smart prepaid meters are installed in their homes. No additional charge will be taken from any consumer during this change and this entire process will be free. 

UPCL has planned to install smart prepaid meters not only in homes and private consumers but also in government offices. UPCL MD Anil Kumar said that the work of installing prepaid meters in the residences of officers and employees of the three energy corporations has already started. 

Apart from this, prepaid meters will soon be installed in CM residence and Raj Bhavan. Anil Kumar said that now people themselves are applying to get prepaid meters installed in their homes. This process will soon be started for common consumers too, so that people across the state can take advantage of this new system.