Consumer resistance & State-hurdles cause smart meter installations to dip in H1

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The company installed 1.3 million smart meters in the July-September quarter, against 1.8 million in the year-ago period, a decline of nearly 28 per cent

By Avinash Nair

Updated - October 23, 2026 at 08:29 PM. | Ahmedabad

AESL had planned to install around 80-90 lakh meters during FY27 and hopes to complete the remaining 40-45 lakh installations in the second half

Adani Energy Solutions Ltd’s (AESL) smart meter installations declined 17 per cent y-o-y to 3.5 million in the first six months of FY27, as consumer resistance and State-specific requirements in Maharashtra and Bihar slowed deployment, Chief Executive Officer Kandarp Patel said on Friday.

The company installed 1.3 million smart meters in the July-September quarter, against 1.8 million in the year-ago period, a decline of nearly 28 per cent. Cumulative installations stood at 14.8 million as of September 2026, compared with 7.4 million a year earlier, according to the company’s operational update. “The deployment during the first half (of FY27) was lower than our expectations. The reasons were mainly external and included resistance from people for smart meters. We have ramped up our campaign to educate those customers,” Patel told analysts during an earnings call.

Slow rollout

Apart from consumer resistance, the rollout was affected by distribution companies seeking to prioritise specific categories of consumers or complete preparatory work before installation, he said. In Maharashtra, the distribution company wanted AESL to focus on a particular category of consumers to facilitate real-time energy accounting for State consumers. This slowed the pace as the company could not deploy meters across the entire geography simultaneously, Patel said. “They were wanting to do it for the right reason because they wanted to complete the real-time energy accounting for the consumers. We also supported them,” he said.

In Bihar, installations were held up by the requirement to tag consumers before fitting the meters. AESL has completed the tagging exercise, while Maharashtra has now asked the company to install all pending meters, Patel said. “Now in Bihar and Maharashtra, where the pace was slow, we expect that to increase significantly,” he said.

AESL had planned to install around 80-90 lakh meters during FY27 and hopes to complete the remaining 40-45 lakh installations in the second half, Patel said. The company’s smart metering order book stood at 24.6 million meters across 10 projects, with a revenue potential of ₹29,519 crore.

Published on October 23, 2026

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