Nagpur: Maharashtra has ranked first in the country by installing 87.57 lakh state-of-the-art smart meters that provide various facilities to the consumers along with accurate bills and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has played a major role in this success of the state by installing 85.85 lakh smart meters, informed Lokesh Chandra, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of MSEDCL.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is leading transformation of energy sector in Maharashtra. The state has ranked first in the energy sector in the country in various respects, including installation of solar agricultural pumps. Now Maharashtra has also ranked first in installing smart meters.
Smart meters provide many benefits to power consumers such as 100 percent accurate bills, the facility for consumers to know their electricity consumption on their mobile phone app every hour, ability to plan use of more power consuming appliances during the concessional electricity tariff period and the opportunity to control electricity consumption. The smart meters are being installed free of cost by MSEDCL. Household electricity consumers who have installed smart meters are also being given a Time of Day (TOD) discount of 80 paise per unit on their electricity consumption from 9 am to 5 pm. Similarly, industrial and commercial consumers are also being given a discount in electricity tariff for day time electricity consumption. The state is celebrating a smart meter awareness fortnight from February 9 to February 23.
In terms of installation of smart meters, Maharashtra ranks first in the country with 87.57 lakh smart meters as per the latest data till February 10. Maharashtra is followed by Bihar (86.44 lakh) and Uttar Pradesh (82.75 lakh) at second and third positions respectively.
The provision of electricity tariff concessions based on the time of consumption is called Time of Day (TOD) concession. Smart meters have the facility to measure electricity consumption according to time. Consumers can also know electricity consumption in their homes or offices every hour through their mobile phone app. TOD concessions have also been introduced for domestic consumers due to smart meters. By January, 54.42 lakh domestic consumers in the state have got concession of Rs 51.42 crore in their monthly electricity bills for the seven months from July 2025 to January 2026. During this period in low tension category industrial consumers got TOD benefit of Rs. 106.89 Cr, commercial consumers got benefit of Rs. 43.03 Cr, Public Water Works got benefits of Rs. 7.30 Cr while other LT consumers got benefit of Rs. 6.70 Cr. The total TOD benefit of LT consumers are Rs. 215 Cr. During the same time period HT consumers have got TOD benefit of Rs. 1349 Cr for use of power in solar hours which includes benefit of Rs. 1105 Cr to HT industrial consumers.
The MSEDCL has appealed to consumers who have smart meters to download the app on their mobile phones and check their electricity consumption regularly.
In the case of smart meters, the electricity consumption is recorded automatically. Hence, the consumer gets an accurate bill. The use of smart meters is increasing in the state and at the same time, billing complaints are decreasing. The rate of billing complaints in the state has come down to half a percent. It is clear that there is no truth in the complaint that electricity bills increase after installation of smart meters.
There was also a misconception that smart meters will lead to increase in power tariff. It should be noted that, after installation of smart meters in the state started, the MSEDCL has sought permission to reduce power tariffs through a petition filed with the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for fixing the five-year electricity tariff. It is clear that consumers will not only get smart meters free of cost, but will also not bear any indirect burden.
Smart meters have been installed on all electricity feeders in the state and their number is 30,164, while smart meters have been installed on 2.80 lakh distribution transformers in the state. This helps in understanding the exact usage of electricity in the system. This will help in effective management of the power distribution system, prevention of distribution losses and effective energy audit. This data is very useful for accurately identifying the pattern of electricity demand and planning the supply accordingly. The discounts that consumers will get in the future will be based on the accurate recording of electricity consumption based on time in the smart meter. Therefore, it is necessary for consumers to have a smart meter.
Benefits of smart meters –
• 100 % accurate bill
• Consumer knows his electricity consumption every hour on his mobile phone app
• TOD discount in electricity rates for daytime electricity consumption
• Facility for consumers to plan electricity consumption and control it accordingly
