Welcoming the cancellation of smart meter tender by UP's Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam discom while demanding cancellation of all tenders for purchase of smart meters, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) accused private companies of cartelisation.

MVVNL on Sunday said a fresh tendering process would be initiated soon.

The AIPEF has demanded that all tenders for purchase of smart meters in Uttar Pradesh be cancelled. It alleged that a campaign was going on to award the tender to a particular private company and all the private companies which had submitted tenders had entered into a cartel for this.

AIPEF chairman Shailendra Dubey said here on Monday that Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited had decided to buy 2.5 crore smart meters in Uttar Pradesh by spending Rs 25,000 crore. The AIPEF had opposed the deal.

When the tenders were opened, Adani had the lowest price in the Madhyanchal discom's tender. Adani had quoted a price of around Rs 10,000 per meter which was much higher than Rs 6,000 per meter fixed as per Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) standard bidding norms. On this basis, instead of giving tender to Adani, Madhyanchal discom cancelled the entire tender process.

Dubey demanded that the tender process in all the discoms of UP be cancelled immediately on this basis. The AIPEF said that four companies Adani, GMR, L&T, and Intellismart Infra, had filed tenders and in connivance with each other, they had entered into a cartel in the process of tendering. He demanded that instead of spending Rs 25,000 crore on smart meters, the money should be spent on strengthening the power distribution network across the state, which would go a long way in preventing power theft and avoiding unnecessary wastage.

UP Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam, (MVVNL) a subsidiary of UP Power Corporation Limited, on Sunday announced the cancellation of the bid of Adani group firm Adani transmission for supplying around 75 lakh smart meters worth Rs 5,400 crore. Sources said Adani transmission had submitted the lowest bid, yet the discom cancelled it citing “unavoidable reasons”.

Apart from Adani, GMR, L&T and Intellismart Infra were also in the fray for the project. Adani had quoted a price of Rs 10,000 per smart meter .MVVNL had invited the tenders for the appointment of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) service provider for smart prepaid metering.