Perspectives of smart meters' roll-out in India: an empirical analysis of consumers' awareness and preferences

This papers focuses on the smart meters' roll-out in India - third largest economy, one of the developing countries with the fastest economic growth rate and third largest power producing nation. The Indian power system is weak and experiences severe problems and challenges that could be solved by means of the smart grid approach and broader implementation of smart meters (SM). Within this study, we focus on the consumers' preferences regarding SM. An empirical study has been conducted among Indian social media users, who are predicted to be potential early adopters or innovators in case of SM further market penetration. By dividing the respondents into a few market segments, the study highlights differences between consumers already having SM installed at their household, consumers in the process of installing SM, consumers who would like to have SM in the future, and consumers' preferences based on potential benefits and information availability. The study also outlines the profile of consumers who currently have SM installed in their household. Results show that tech-savviness of India's consumers, common access to the Internet for citizens, possession of smart phones by most of the population and ambitious goals of the Indian government, are a very productive mix for a nation wide roll-out of SM in India in the coming years.