By Atul Bali, Director, National Smart Grid Mission, and Executive Director, POWERGRID
Rising renewable energy penetration, large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and the growing deployment of battery energy storage systems are some of the key factors driving grid transformation. Power now flows in multiple directions as consumers increasingly become prosumers. This has created a growing demand for real-time visibility across the network, a capability provided by smart meters. Over time, the role of smart meters has expanded well beyond improvements in billing and revenue collection. They are increasingly being seen as a key enabler of renewable energy integration, consumer participation and data-driven utility operations. As of March 2026, more than 67 million smart meters have been installed under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), reflecting the rapid progress made in recent years.
From pilots to scale
India’s smart metering programme has evolved through more than a decade of policy development, technology validation and capacity building. Early momentum came with the establishment of the India Smart Grid Task Force and the India Smart Grid Forum. This was followed by the launch of smart grid pilot projects by multiple utilities in 2012 and the release of the Smart Grid Vision and Roadmap in 2013 under Ministry of Power’s (MoP) guidance. The launch of the National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) provided further impetus to the programme. Over the next few years, standards such as IS 16444 and IS 15959 were notified and the Smart Grid Knowledge Centre at Manesar was established to support testing, demonstration and training activities.
The next phase was marked by commercial deployments in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Until then, utilities largely followed the engineering, procurement and construction model. However, concerns around technology obsolescence, funding and manpower limitations exposed the shortcomings of this approach. As a result, the sector gradually shifted to the OPEX or TOTEX model, under which service providers are paid on a per-meter-per-month basis and the payments linked to not only phased Go live requirements but also on service level agreement compliance as per model standard bidding document (SBD) requirements.
The roll-out gained further momentum in 2021 when the MoP issued SBDs for advanced metering infrastructure service providers (AMISPs) and launched the RDSS with a target of 250 million smart meters. As a result, installations have increased from 6 million in March 2023 to over 65 million in March 2026. Installation rates across all AMISPs have now reached around 150,000 meters per day, while domestic manufacturing capacity has expanded to nearly 100 million meters annually.
Smart metering update
According to NSGM data, deployment progress continues to vary significantly across states. As of May 2026, a total of 70 million consumer smart meters have been installed, representing about 30 per cent of the sanctioned quantity of around 230 million smart meters.
State-wise, Maharashtra leads the country with around 11 million smart meters installed, followed by Uttar Pradesh with nearly 10 million installations. Bihar has emerged as a major success story with nearly 9 million meters deployed, and majority in pre-paid mode while Assam has installed about 5.7 million smart meters and achieved one of the highest saturation levels. Madhya Pradesh has also made significant progress with around 4.1 million smart meters and its own meter data management (MDM) system.
Progress in distribution transformer (DT) metering has been slower, with only 1.8 million smart DT meters installed against a sanctioned quantity of 5.31 million. In contrast, feeder metering has reached nearly 90 per cent saturation.
Benefits for stakeholders
For utilities, the initial benefits of smart metering included reduction in losses, improved billing accuracy, reduced theft and lower OPEX. Further, continuous access to consumption data would provide a much clearer understanding of load patterns, enabling better forecasting and peak demand management. Integration with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), distribution management systems (DMS), GIS platforms and consumer care systems also helps utilities detect faults and service disruptions faster. Collectively, these gains improve utility finances and strengthening payment discipline across the power sector value chain.
Consumers are also benefiting from greater transparency and convenience of services. Smart meters provide near real-time visibility into electricity consumption while eliminating many of the issues associated with manual meter reading and billing. Digital payment options and prepaid functionality have simplified payment and reconnection processes. In addition, prepaid consumers are often offered tariff discounts and incentives, enhancing the attractiveness of the system. Granular and bidirectional data are also enabling time-of-use tariffs, demand response programmes and greater prosumer participation.
Beyond operational benefits, smart metering is becoming increasingly important for renewable energy integration. While net metering transactions are already being captured, utilities still require better visibility into distributed generation. Smart meters and other intelligent devices can provide the real-time data needed to monitor generation, manage variability and maintain grid stability.
Areas of concern
Despite rapid deployment, several challenges remain. Consumer acceptance continues to be a key concern. Limited awareness of smart meter benefits and inadequate feedback mechanisms often lead to resistance. Many consumers are unfamiliar with mobile applications and digital services, while others lack access to smartphones. Therefore, utilities need to focus on consumer empowerment and supplement digital platforms with kiosks, service centres and assisted support channels.
Importantly, functions such as remote connect-disconnect operations, prepaid services and near real-time monitoring depend on robust communication connectivity. Communication gaps can affect service delivery and erode consumer confidence. As a result, many utilities initially operate meters in postpaid mode and shift to prepaid operation only after communication performance has stabilised.
Another critical requirement is accurate consumer indexing. Incorrect mapping of consumers to feeders and DTs weakens energy accounting and reduces the effectiveness of analytics. Automated techniques such as DTs voltage-profile analysis and DT-to-consumer mapping would improve accuracy.
Project execution also faces challenges related to installation delays, site acceptance testing and fund disbursement in time.
Interoperability across systems remains another concern, particularly when multiple AMISPs operate within a single utility. Data gaps arising from communication failures, along with limited analytical capabilities within utilities, further constrain value realisation. At the same time, growing digitalisation has heightened cybersecurity and data privacy risks, underscoring the need for clear data governance frameworks and regular security audits.
Opportunities
As deployment expands, attention is increasingly shifting from meter installation to data utilisation. One emerging application is the integration of smart meters with home automation systems. Pilot projects have demonstrated how appliances such as air conditioners, geysers and EV chargers can be linked with consumer-facing smart meter applications. This would allow consumers to monitor consumption, manage expenditure and control appliance usage through a single interface. Such capabilities are expected to become more valuable as time-of-use tariffs become more widespread.
Smart metering is also accelerating the digital transformation of utility operations. Smart meters generate interval data, while SCADA and energy management systems provide near real-time operational visibility. The real value lies in converting this information into actionable insights. Further, to support emerging use cases such as demand response, EV integration, renewable energy management and load forecasting, utilities will require stronger MDM systems, integrated data lakes and advanced analytics platforms capable of processing information from multiple sources. These capabilities will also support the development of self-healing grids, where faults can be identified, isolated and managed automatically in real time. Achieving this will require seamless integration between smart meters, SCADA, DMS and artificial intelligence (AI)-based applications.
In this direction, the India Energy Stack initiative aims to enable interoperability and integration across energy systems. Recent pilots involving peer-to-peer energy trading have already demonstrated how smart meter data can support new market models.
The way forward
The next phase of smart metering will be defined not by the number of meters installed but by how effectively the data generated is utilised. The focus is expected to shift towards demonstrable outcomes such as loss reduction, demand response, predictive maintenance, improved reliability and revenue optimisation.
Time-of-day/time-of-use tariffs are likely to play a major role in this transition. While these mechanisms have already been adopted for industrial consumers, several utilities are now exploring similar approaches for residential consumers with a special emphasis on enabling greater utilisation of renewable and solar energy through large-scale smart meter deployment.
AI and machine learning are also expected to play a key role in future grid operations. However, their effectiveness will depend on strong data governance, accurate consumer indexing, seamless system integration and robust cybersecurity frameworks.
Looking ahead, the significance of smart metering will lie in its ability to provide visibility in near real-time and support operational intelligence across the distribution network. As renewable energy systems, EVs and other distributed energy resources become more widespread, utilities will require granular and timely data to manage the grid effectively. Therefore, smart meters are expected to play a critical role in managing the complex electricity system of the future.
