Awarding of smart meters by discoms likely to surge in near to medium term: ICRA
Credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the awarding of smart meters by the state distribution utilities (discoms) is expected to more than double to 222 million in the near to medium term. It also said the smart metering installations are likely to surge over the next two years supported by the progress in tendering.
However, the report said the progress in installations remains low, with only 8 million smart meters installed as of December 2023. It said given the current pace of installations, the government's target to replace 250 million conventional meters with smart meters by 2025 is unlikely to be met. Nonetheless, it expects the pace of installations to witness a significant jump over the next two years.
The replacement of conventional meters with smart meters is a key initiative of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) launched by the Centre in July 2021. It was launched with the objective of bringing down AT&C (aggregate technical & commercial) losses and reducing the gap between the cost of supply and tariff to zero for discom
