Installed, Communicating, Prepaid: Three Different Numbers in India's Smart Meter Count

India's smart metering programme has crossed a large installation milestone, but the more useful numbers sit beneath the headline count. Parliamentary replies, a regulator-facing analysis and a 2026 amendment to the metering rules together show a rollout that is moving faster on hardware than on communication, prepaid conversion and consumer trust.

The installation count and the deadline

According to a report in The Secretariat citing a written reply to Parliament, 7.24 crore smart meters had been installed nationwide as of 30 June 2026, of which 5.73 crore sit under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). The same report puts RDSS progress at 28.2 per cent and notes that the scheme's original March 2026 deadline has been extended by two years to 31 March 2028.

For context, Energdive's summary of a Rajya Sabha reply recorded about 3.9 crore RDSS installations at the end of December 2025, out of sanctions covering 19.79 crore consumer meters, 52.53 lakh distribution transformer meters and 2.05 lakh feeder meters across 45 utilities. The same reply reported AT&C losses falling from 21.91 per cent in FY2021 to 15.04 per cent in FY2025.

The Secretariat quotes energy expert Yudhishthir Gohil as saying the 2028 deadline needs roughly 6.5 lakh meters a day. That figure is a useful yardstick for any DISCOM reviewing its own award-to-installation pace.

State spread is the real story

Installation is concentrated. The Energdive figures show Maharashtra at 83.7 lakh meters, Assam at 47.3 lakh, Uttar Pradesh at 62.5 lakh against a sanctioned base of 2.85 crore, and Gujarat at 35.7 lakh, while Punjab and Goa had not begun installations at the time of that data. By 30 June 2026, The Secretariat reports Gujarat had installed 52.01 lakh meters against more than 1.67 crore sanctioned, about 31 per cent.

A national total therefore hides utilities that are a third of the way through their sanction and others that have barely started. For vendors, AMI service providers and lenders, state-level and DISCOM-level progress is the number that predicts payment milestones.

Installed is not communicating, and communicating is not prepaid

An analysis by Prayas (Energy Group), using RDSS dashboard data as of March 2025, separated three states of a meter: installed, communicating and in prepaid mode. About 1.34 crore consumer meters, 5 per cent of the 25 crore target, were communicating, and about 48 lakh, 1.9 per cent of the target, were in prepaid mode. Only about 3 per cent of distribution transformers in state networks were communicating.

Those figures are older than the 2026 counts, so they should not be read as the current position. They remain valuable because they define the right questions: how many installed meters report data reliably, and how many are billed on prepaid terms. The Prayas analysis also flagged gaps in state regulations, including few timelines for auto-reconnection after recharge and rarely referenced cybersecurity guidelines.

Prepaid becomes a policy question

The Secretariat reports that under the Central Electricity Authority (Installation and Operation of Meters) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, prepaid functionality and interoperability are mandatory in AMI, and that in areas without communication networks prepaid meters may be installed with State Electricity Regulatory Commission approval. It also describes Gujarat extending Time of Use discounts, earlier limited to prepaid users, to postpaid smart meter consumers in several categories, and adding steps such as check meters and instalment recovery of old dues.

Gohil argues in the same report that prepaid should not be mandatory, and suggests keeping postpaid, offering monthly billing, giving prepaid opters a rebate that includes fixed charges, making emergency credit mandatory and using direct-debit escrow accounts for financing. The report also lists weak network signals and consumer distrust, including fears of higher bills, among the obstacles.

What it means for utilities

Meter count is now a weak performance indicator. The metrics that carry weight are communicating-meter percentage, billed-on-smart-data percentage, prepaid conversion where it is permitted, and complaint rates after installation.

Consumer-side design matters as much as the head-end system. Tariff benefits such as ToU rebates, clear dispute handling, emergency credit and transparent recharge rules are the levers that decide whether a prepaid or smart postpaid base stays quiet or generates protests.

Data quality needs ownership. Dashboard errors flagged by Prayas, such as feeder and transformer entries showing prepaid mode, show that reporting discipline affects both monitoring and credibility with regulators and lenders.

Key takeaways

• India reported 7.24 crore smart meters installed by 30 June 2026, with RDSS at 28.2 per cent and a deadline of 31 March 2028.
• State progress varies widely, so national totals say little about any single DISCOM's delivery risk.
• Installed, communicating and prepaid are three separate measures; the older Prayas data shows the gap between them can be large.
• The 2026 CEA amendment makes prepaid functionality mandatory in AMI, while experts push for consumer choice and safeguards.
• Tariff design and consumer trust are now operational requirements of the rollout, not afterthoughts.

Sources

• Smart Meter Mission Loses Momentum As Installation Targets Slip - The Secretariat
• India Installs 3.9 Crore Smart Meters under RDSS Scheme by Dec 2025 - Energdive
• Smart Metering in India: A work in progress - Prayas (Energy Group)