India has installed more than 5.97 crore smart meters across the country under various electricity sector reform programmes, with the majority deployed as part of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) aimed at improving billing efficiency and strengthening power distribution infrastructure.
According to data presented in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Power, 4.38 crore smart meters have been installed for electricity consumers under the RDSS so far.
In addition, 1.63 lakh feeder meters and 14.84 lakh distribution transformer meters have been installed under the scheme.
“Till date, smart meters have been installed for 4.38 crore consumers, 1.63 lakhfeeders and 14.84 lakh DTs under the scheme. Overall, more than 5.97 croresmart meters have been installed across the country under variousschemes,” Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, 12 March.
The rollout is part of a wider national programme to modernise electricity distribution networks and improve financial sustainability of power distribution companies.
The RDSS programme was launched in July 2021 with the objective of improving the quality and reliability of power supply while ensuring the financial sustainability of distribution utilities.
The scheme focuses on infrastructure upgrades, loss reduction works and the deployment of digital monitoring systems in the power distribution sector.
Smart meters form a central pillar of the RDSS strategy, enabling automated energy accounting and real-time monitoring of electricity consumption across the network.
Under the scheme, prepaid smart metering works covering 19.79 crore consumers have been sanctioned.
Smart system metering works have also been approved for 2.11 lakh feeders and 52.53 lakh distribution transformers across states and union territories.
The minister stated that smart metering works help improve the billing efficiency of utilities through automatic energy accounting which helps to identify leakages and high loss areas. It also helps to improve the collectionefficiency of utilities through pre-paid system.
According to the minister, reform measures undertaken in recent years have helped reduce Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses across the country from 21.91% in FY21 to 15.04% in FY25.
The gap between the Average Cost of Supply and the Average Revenue Realised has also narrowed from ₹0.69 per kWh to ₹0.06 per kWh.
The improvements have also translated into better electricity availability.
Average daily hours of power supply have increased to 22.6 hours in rural areas and 23.4 hours in urban areas in FY25.
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