Context: The Power Ministry has extended the deadline for installing 25 crore smart meters across the country under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) by two years till March 2028.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about Smart Meters; Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme.
Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme
- Initiative of: Ministry of Power
- Duration: 5 years i.e., from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26. Extended by two years till FY 2027-28.
- Aim: To reduce the Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses to pan-India levels of 12-15% and Average Cost of Supply (ACS)-Average Revenue Realised (ARR) gap to zero by 2024-25.
- The scheme has two parts:
- Part-A: Upgradation of distribution infrastructure and Pre-paid Smart Metering & System Metering. The Smart Meter National Programme under RDSS envisages the installation of 25 crore Smart Meters across the country.
- Part-B: Training & Capacity Building and other Enabling & Supporting Activities.
- Progress: As of July 2025, a total of 20.33 crore smart meters have been sanctioned under the RDSS, out of which 2.44 crore smart meters have been installed throughout the country.
Smart Meters:
- Prepaid Smart Meters are the new generation of energy meters that are used to record electricity consumption in real-time. As they are connected to the internet, users and utilities can easily track and monitor electricity usage and get accurate bills. They can:
- Eliminate the need for manual inspection, making them highly efficient and convenient.
- Tell about electricity use during different times of the day, months and seasons.
- Alert in case of insufficient/low balance or abnormal usage to best optimize their consumption on a user-friendly web portal or mobile app.
- Notifies about changes in power tariffs that can help to plan activities during low-tariff periods.
- Point towards appliances that are using more electricity than they should and suggests options to replace them with new, efficient ones.
How does the Smart Meter Work?
Smart meters are digital devices that measure and record electricity (or gas or water) consumption in real time and relay the information to utility companies.
- Metering device: For electricity meters, sensors measure the voltage and current flowing through the electrical circuits. These values are then multiplied to calculate the power consumption (measured in watts). By integrating the power consumption over time, the meter can determine total electricity use (measured in kilowatt-hours).
- Transmit usage information: After recording energy consumption data, the communications module is responsible for transmitting usage information to the company, by using one of the following methods:
- Radio frequency (RF) signals to transmit data. This method is cost-effective and allows for long-range communication. However, RF signals can be susceptible to interference from other wireless devices and might require more infrastructure, such as repeaters or gateways, to ensure reliable communication.
- Cellular networks: Some smart meters rely on existing cellular networks (for example, 4G or 5G) to transmit data. This approach offers widespread coverage and can be more resistant to interference than RF signals.
- Broadband connections like DSL and fiber-optic networks are another option for smart meter communication.
- Power line communication technology allows smart meters to transmit data over existing power lines, eliminating the need for additional communication infrastructure.
Way Forward:
As India marches towards its vision of a financially sound and digitalised power sector through smart metering interventions, it must pursue a user-centric design and deployment strategy.
- Spread Awareness: The Ministry of Power should drive a nationwide campaign to educate consumers about smart meter benefits and improve the uptake of smart meter apps. The apps should be accessible to users from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and provide actionable tips and information.
- Capacity Building: The majority of smart meters in India are being deployed by the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Providers (AMISPs), responsible for installation and operation of the AMI system for the project lifetime (10 years). Discoms must closely work with AMISPs to ensure a smooth installation and recharge experience for users, to leverage smart meter data for revenue protection and consumer engagement. For this, discoms will need to strengthen their internal capacity through suitable staffing and training interventions.
- Foster Innovation: Discoms, system integrators and technology providers should collaborate to devise innovative and scalable data solutions. Effective use of smart meter data is fundamental to unlocking their true value proposition. This would require an ecosystem that fosters innovation in analytics, data hosting and sharing platforms, and enables key actors to collaboratively test and scale new solutions.
- Strengthen Regulatory framework: Policymakers and regulators must strengthen regulations to empower consumers to unlock new retail markets.
- Currently, important provisions concerning the phase-out of paper bills, arrear adjustment, frequency of recharge alerts, buffer time, rebates, and data privacy are scattered across different regulatory orders or simply missing. Their incorporation within existing State frameworks will be crucial for a positive technology experience for end users.
- Regulators must also enable simplification and innovation in tariff design and open the retail market to new business models and prosumagers (producers, consumers, and storage users).