A paradigm shift with smart meters

Prepaid Smart Meters are a new breed of energy meters that capture real-time electricity consumption. Users and utilities may easily track and monitor electricity usage and receive accurate bills as long as they are connected to the internet. Moreover, these meters have remote reading features that reduce the need for any kind of physical inspection onsite.
The present installed capacity of smart meters
The Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) Program aims to replace 250 million (25 Cr) conventional meters with smart prepaid meters. India has already installed 50- liter smart meters in Bihar (almost 12L), Uttar Pradesh (12L), Rajasthan (5.5L), Haryana (6L), Assam (4.5L), and Delhi (2.5L). Over 12 L are smart prepaid meters, with the vast majority in Bihar. In addition, a few other states, including UP, are on the cusp of awarding more smart meters (2.75 Cr.).
India has been using smart meters for over three years, and the technology is still expanding. At first, people were sceptical about transitioning from conventional to smart meters. However, smart meter adoption has gained momentum with the help of our programmes and initiatives in several states. Here, Animesh Mishra, Chief General Manager, (Sales & CC/PR), EESL says that these efforts have enabled EESL to install over 31.49 lakh smart meters across Uttar Pradesh successfully, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Andaman.
“The National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM), the nodal body for smart metering, is best positioned to respond.” According to their website, over 5.2 million smart meters have already been placed across the country. “Over 1.1 million smart meters communicate over CyanConnode’s RF network, making it the largest RF player by far,” says Ratna Garapati, MD & CEO, CyanConnode.
Financial benefits to DISCOMs
Smart metering technology has brought about a paradigm shift in power distribution companies’ billing and collection efficiency. As smart meters are connected through a web-based monitoring system, they enable real-time monitoring of energy consumption. This reduces commercial losses for utilities, enhances revenues, and is a crucial tool in power sector reforms. Sharing his experience, Animesh claims that “With the help of smart meters, we have revamped the manual revenue collection system, which contributed to AT&C losses by being inefficient and used to
contribute to the financial losses of DISCOMs.”
The financial stability of DISCOMs is a prolonged challenge in the Indian power sector. Smart metering is a potential factor that will improve the financial strength of DISCOMs. Pre-paid smart metering will allow them to collect funds upfront and manage their cash inventory in a better way.
Highlighting additional benefits, Vinit Mishra, Director – Technical Consulting, Ernst & Young LLP explains that real-time monitoring and better-advanced analytics will help DISCOMs reduce their non-technical losses and predict better load forecasting with smart metering. Its heavenly and real-time data can help DISCOMs plan power procurement efficiently, reduce UI changes, and avoid incurring additional costs.
Ratna, on the other hand, explains that there are various contributing factors. The power ministry recently announced that AT&C losses were reduced by 5 percent the last year. Mentioning CyanConnode’s smart metering project in Indore, running on their RF communication, Garapathy proudly claims that “Indore has reaped multiple benefits for DISCOMs and consumers.” The benefits range from identifying theft cases and reductions in AT&C losses due to improved billing and collection efficiency to the timely determination of defective meters, which was not previously possible through manual reading.
Smart meter installation in semi-urban and rural geographies
Implementing 250 million smart meters in the next 3 years is an uphill task. “We should learn from our previous experiences in smart metering, which we have earned over the last 2-3 years,” adds Vinit. He further notes three challenges below:
Effective monitoring of smart meter installation progress at the site is a crucial challenge. Under the RDSS scheme, the average per-day meter installation on a pan-India basis will be approximately 2.5 lakh meters so manual monitoring will be a big challenge. Therefore, system integrators need to use digital tools like mobile applications to avoid manual intervention.
Customer participation is another big challenge that an effective customer communication strategy can address.
Adaptation to new systems at the consumer’s end is also a big challenge faced by DISCOMs. Sufficient trials by DISCOMs are required to ensure the technical upgrade of the existing metering and billing system. This will ensure that meters installed in the remotest places communicate without difficulty.

Adhering to safety and efficiency standards in smart meters
Smart Meters are equipped with an over-current limit and a load limit to ensure the safety of the meters and household equipment against abnormally high currents and loads. The design is also made to ensure protection against ingress to a certain level (IP51), while the meter enclosure is protected to at least an IP54 level.
Smart Meters and their communications module are tested and regulated to operate below 7 watts per hour to ensure the device’s efficiency. Also, smart meters go into an idle state (lowest power) by dimming the screen to save energy. According to Vinit’s suggestions, “to improve the communication efficiency of smart meters, they are equipped with a communication module that works over cellular technologies (4G/3G/2G/NB-IoT) with a fallback mechanism that ensures data is always delivered to the backend system even if the network is not available.” Also, reboot functionality is being implemented into the communication module of smart meters to ensure they refresh the connectivity at least once a day, even if it’s stuck in some process.
Regulatory support for smart meters is improving power operations
The RDSS scheme and its payment mechanism, i.e., payment security mode, give motivation and comfort to the system integrator.
“The fact that the funding under RDSS will be available only if the DISCOM commits to an agreed-upon loss reduction trajectory has pushed DISCOMs to actively look at smart meters as a strong tool, and the 75 million smart Meter tenders currently active in the market are a testament to this fact,” claims Ratna. “The strong payment mechanism, listed in SBD, from the utilities to the AMISPs has pushed for a larger participation from AMISPs in all these tenders.”
Moreover, the Ministry of Power has given almost five crore smart meters to power sector PSUs like REC, PFC, and Power Grid. These PSUs are getting work from state DISCOMs and allocating it to AMI Service Providers (AMISP). “This route is also boosting the confidence of AMISPs, as AMISPs are considering payment security better in the case of PSUs, as PSUs have better credit ratings than state DISCOMs,” adds Vinit.
Online data analytics is the most effective technology implemented to improve the safety and efficiency of smart
meters, Animesh says. It accurately forecasts the energy consumption patterns of consumers, identifies faulty appliances, disconnects defaulters, and enhances the safety aspects of smart meters. This helps DISCOMs balance the grid load, optimise the allocation of human resources, and address theft- or dysfunction-related issues promptly.
The central government firmly supports strengthening the smart metering programme and has undertaken several initiatives to reduce AT&C losses caused by inefficient billing and collection solutions. Smart meter technology has been a shot in the arm of power distribution companies and the energy sector. It has helped utilities generate more revenues and enabled consumers to pay for as much energy as they use and simultaneously monitor their power consumption.
Smart meters have enabled a 30 percent reduction in effective load monitoring and timely disconnection of defaulters, thus improving the cash flow of DISCOMs. With the implementation of the Smart Metering National Programme (SMNP), the respective DISCOMs are getting more than 60 percent of their revenue collections through online payment mechanisms in advance, compared to 35 percent in the past. End-users also benefit from smart meters, as they can now monitor their power consumption via a mobile app and choose the tariffs that best fit their monthly budgets.