RECPDCL Signs Agreements for Installing 3.32 Million Smart Meters in Gujarat
Bharat Grid will install the prepaid smart meters in the PGVCL area
July 11, 2025
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REC Power Development and Consultancy (RECPDCL) has signed agreements to deploy 3.32 million smart prepaid meters in Paschim Gujarat Vij Company’s (PGVCL) jurisdictional area as part of the Phase II rollout of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).
The implementation will follow the design, build, finance, own, operate, and transfer model. RECPDCL signed the project implementation agency and the distribution department framework agreements for the project.
It also signed an advanced metering infrastructure service provider contract agreement with Bharat Grid, a partnership venture between global infrastructure investor Actis and EDF India, the Indian arm of Électricité de France.
Bharat Grid will replace conventional meters in the electricity distribution network with smart prepaid meters.
The key benefits of this initiative include a reduction in the aggregate technical and commercial losses, improved billing efficiency, real-time monitoring of electricity usage, reduced downtime, and better consumer engagement.
Consumers will be able to track and manage their electricity consumption through digital interfaces, while the utility will gain access to data for demand forecasting and grid management. This initiative is part of the Indian government’s broader RDSS objective to digitalize and make the distribution sector financially more sustainable and operationally efficient.
Under the Smart Meter National Program, as part of the RDSS, the government has set a target to install 250 million electricity consumer smart meters by the end of the financial year 2026. However, with less than a year to go before the program ends, the achievement is dismal.
The government provides a grant of ₹900 (~$10.3), or 15% of the cost, whichever is lower, for every smart meter.
The parliamentary standing committee on energy commented in a December 2024 report that the target of installing 250 million smart meters by the year 2025-26 “seems to be a difficult task.”