Switching on India’s smart electricity future

• India plans to replace 250 million conventional electric meters with prepaid smart meters by 2025-26.
• India is supporting this initiative through a results-linked grant-cum- financing to help discoms become financially sound and efficient to deliver better services to consumers.

Reaping technology benefits

• A recent study found that the majority of smart meter users have already begun to experience some of the technology benefits.
• Half the users reported improvements in billing regularity, and two-thirds said paying bills had become easier.
• Around 40% of users reported a drop in instances of electricity theft, and improved power supply to the locality.
• 70% of prepaid smart meter users said they would recommend the technology to their friends and relatives.

Challenges

• Half the users were not using the smart meter mobile app.
• Many were unable to access detailed electricity bills, leaving them doubtful about their bill computation and deductions.

How actors can step up

• A nationwide campaign by Ministry of Power
  • Aim: To educate consumers about smart meter benefits and improve the uptake of smart meter apps.
  • Apps should be accessible to users from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
• Discoms must co-own the programme
  • Smart meters in India are majorly deployed by 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.
• Collaboration among discoms, system integrators & technology providers to innovate
  • 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.
  • It enables key actors to collaboratively test and scale new solutions.
• Strengthening regulations to empower consumers to unlock new retail markets.
  • Currently, important provisions concerning phase-out of paper bills, arrear adjustment, frequency of recharge alerts, buffer time, rebates, and data privacy are scattered across different regulatory orders.
  • 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.

Conclusion

• India is on a unique journey of meeting its growing electricity demand while decarbonising its generation sources.
• Smart meters comprise a critical part of the transition toolbox, by way of enabling responsible consumption, efficient energy management, and cost-effective integration of distributed energy resources.
• A user-centric design and deployment philosophy will be crucial for the success of India’s smart metering initiative.