The promise of smart metering in Jammu and Kashmir under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) was ambitious: bring efficiency, transparency, and financial viability to the power distribution system through digital reform. However, four years into the scheme, with just about 1.84 lakh smart meters installed against the sanctioned 14.97 lakh, the outcome is nothing short of an administrative embarrassment. This glaring gap-installing barely 12percent of the target-is not just a statistic. It reflects systemic inertia, administrative apathy, and a lack of political will that continues to cripple J&K’s power sector. Ironically, the areas now witnessing smart meter installations are the same that first saw analogue meters, then digital ones, and now smart ones. The repeated layering of technologies in select pockets has failed to make a dent in either revenue collection or power pilferage, making the entire exercise appear redundant and misdirected.
The net result is that the collection remains poor, AT&C losses remain high, and the Discoms’ liabilities to power generators continue to pile up. The electricity liabilities run into hundreds of crores, forcing the Union Government to repeatedly step in with subsidies. This benevolence has gone on for decades, but as Union Power Minister ManoharLal recently noted, it cannot be an endless lifeline. This sluggish performance is even more puzzling considering the fact that the smart metering work is outsourced, meaning the usual excuse of manpower shortage doesn’t hold. Despite directives from the Union Ministry and review meetings in Srinagar, no structured district-wise or division-wise push appears to be underway. There is no proactive political ownership, no bureaucratic urgency, and little public outreach to educate or convince consumers about the benefits of smart metering-especially the prepaid model that allows users to top up their power usage just like mobile recharges.
The fact is that in areas where they are installed, power quality has improved, pilferage has reduced, and revenue collection has surged. Nevertheless, the will to replicate this success across the UT is conspicuously missing. It is not about resources or technology anymore; it is purely a matter of intent. The prepaid model, once universalised, will replace outdated billing systems, reduce disputes, and ensure people pay for what they use. It will cut theft, improve planning, and reduce the financial haemorrhage in the power sector. But without aggressive execution and oversight, it will remain another half-hearted reform on paper.
J&K needs an urgent course correction. Political representatives, especially MLAs, must stop hiding behind populist posturing and lead the smart metering campaign. Public resistance-if any-can be countered through awareness drives and assurances. At the same time, accountability must be institutionalised. Area engineers, Sub Transmission Division heads, and outsourced vendors must face measurable targets and consequences for non-performance. If work is outsourced, results must be tracked with fortnightly progress reports-district-wise, division-wise, and even feeder-wise.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the power portfolio, must act swiftly and decisively. The RDSS has a hard deadline of March 2028, but at the current pace, even a decade won’t suffice. The UT cannot afford to delay. With J&K’s unique geographical and seasonal peak load conditions-summers in Jammu, winters in Kashmir-there is no escape from power reform. Electricity is the foundation for industrial growth, tourism development, healthcare expansion, and quality of life improvement. If J&K harbours any serious ambition of emerging as an investment and tourism hub, it must treat electricity not as a subsidy-dependent utility but as a regulated service.
Time is running out fast. J&K cannot continue in the loop of announcement, inertia, bailout, and repeat. The Central Government has drawn the line: Funds will now be linked to performance. It is time to stop shifting meters within the same colonies and start shifting mindsets at every level-political, administrative, and consumer. Electricity is not a charity. It is a service that must be paid for. Until that principle is enforced with discipline and planning, J&K’s energy crisis will remain unresolved, and its growth story perpetually stalled.
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