Mumbai: The rollout of smart electricity meters in Maharashtra has crossed 1.50 crore installations as of Thursday, accounting for nearly 50% of the total meters slated for replacement across the state, officials said.The large-scale deployment is being carried out by MSEDCL, along with Mumbai utilities BEST, Adani Electricity and Tata Power.Officials noted that a significant portion of the new smart meters has replaced faulty or inaccurate devices, including at least 1,000 “zero meters” that previously recorded no consumption. The replacement has improved billing accuracy, ensuring consumers are charged correctly for their electricity use.Amid concerns from consumers, the state govt and utilities have intensified outreach efforts to raise awareness about the benefits of smart metering. Campaigns include social media messaging, SMS alerts, visits to housing societies and public engagement drives aimed at building trust and understanding.Authorities maintain that smart meters empower consumers by offering detailed, near real-time insights into electricity usage. Users can monitor consumption on an hourly, daily and monthly basis, track projected bills, compare usage patterns over the past year and benchmark against neighbouring households. Alerts for unusual spikes in consumption also help users manage demand more effectively.For utilities, smart meters enable real-time monitoring of the network, aiding in the detection of power theft, the reduction in distribution losses and the faster identification of faults. This is expected to improve supply reliability and reduce outages.An official from Adani Electricity said the Time-of-Day tariff has already helped some consumers reduce bills by shifting usage to lower-cost daytime hours. Utilities indicated such pricing mechanisms could be expanded further to encourage efficient energy use.
