Smart Meters, But Where’s the Power?

The Jammu and Kashmir administration's decision to install Smart Meters in every household by August 2026, under the Prime Minister's Development Package (PMDP) and the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), raises more concerns than confidence.

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While officials promote this move as a progressive reform, citizens continue to grapple with a far more basic crisis—an unreliable and erratic power supply.

Technology can indeed be transformative—but only when foundational services are firmly in place. What value does a “smart meter” hold in a household that experiences hours of power cuts daily?

Across both the Jammu and Kashmir divisions, residents continue to suffer voltage fluctuations, unannounced outages, and persistent load shedding, often during peak hours. In this context, the administration's plan to extend prepaid smart metering to over 14 lakh additional consumers, without first ensuring uninterrupted electricity, seems not just premature but misplaced.