RDSS smart meter installation software and field guide

What RDSS is

The Union Cabinet approved the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme in June 2021. According to the PIB release, it has an outlay of ₹3,03,758 crore, with estimated gross budgetary support from the Central Government of ₹97,631 crore. REC and PFC were named nodal agencies. The scheme was originally set to run until 2025-26; its sunset date is now 31 March 2028, according to a Ministry of Power reply in Parliament in July 2026.

Its stated objectives were to bring AT&C losses down to 12–15% nationally and to close the gap between the average cost of supply and the average revenue realised (ACS-ARR) by 2024-25. Ongoing work under the earlier IPDS and DDUGJY schemes, and the PMDP-2015 projects for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, was folded into it.

How smart metering works under RDSS

The release describes prepaid smart metering for consumers as "a key feature" of the scheme, to be done in public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Three parts matter for field teams:

• Consumer meters. About 25 crore prepaid smart meters were planned over the scheme period, for all consumers except agricultural connections. The first phase prioritised electricity divisions in AMRUT cities with AT&C losses above 15%, Union Territories, MSMEs and other industrial and commercial consumers, government offices at block level and above, and other high-loss areas.
• System meters. Communicating meters on every feeder and distribution transformer (DT), "to enable energy accounting", also in PPP mode.
• Agricultural connections. Covered through feeder meters rather than individual consumer meters, because of how scattered they are.

The commercial model is TOTEX. As the Prayas Energy Group explains, smart metering projects are executed as a combination of capital and operational expenses, and AMISPs (Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Providers) are responsible for metering end to end. In practice, an AMISP signs with the DISCOM and then works through installation agencies on the ground.

Where the rollout stands (June 2026)

According to the Ministry of Power's reply in Parliament of July 2026, as reported by T&D India:

• Sanctioned under RDSS: 20.33 crore smart meters, made up of 19.79 crore consumer meters, 52.53 lakh DT meters and 2.05 lakh feeder meters.
• Installed under RDSS: 5.73 crore, as of 30 June 2026. That is about 28% of the sanctioned quantity.
• Installed in India under all schemes: 7.24 crore, including consumer, DT and feeder meters.

Progress has been slower than planned. A year earlier, in a May 2025 analysis of figures as of March 2025, Prayas reported about 13.4 million smart meters communicating and about 4.8 million in prepaid mode. With 14.6 crore sanctioned meters still to install before the 2028 sunset date, the field work is far from finished.

What RDSS asks of field teams

The scheme documents are written for DISCOMs and AMISPs, but most of the obligations land on the person holding the phone at the premises.

Consumer indexing comes first. Energy accounting at feeder and DT level only works if every consumer is mapped to the right DT and feeder. That is a survey job, done before or alongside installation, and errors in it are expensive to find later.

Every installation needs evidence. An old meter removed, its final reading, a new meter with a known serial, seals, the consumer's acknowledgement. Each of these becomes a question at some point, from billing, from audit or from a consumer complaint.

Meters have to communicate, not just be installed. A meter that is on the wall but not reporting to the head-end system (HES) doesn't deliver what the scheme pays for. Non-communicating meters need field visits to diagnose and fix.

Progress has to be reportable. DISCOMs track progress against sanctioned quantities, and the numbers need to hold up when checked.

How installation software maps to it

If you run installations under an AMISP, the smart meter installation and AMISP pages go into more detail. Plans start at ₹4,999/month; see pricing.