ANANTNAG: On November 10, Sabzar Ahmad Dar, an electrician from Turka-Tachloo village in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, was lying on a cot on the veranda of his house when a team from the Power Development Department (PDD) arrived.
According to Dar, the officials informed him that a digital smart electricity meter would be installed at his residence. Until that day, his household did not have an electricity meter and was billed under the flat-rate system, under which he paid ₹1,800 per month, irrespective of usage, a system that was common in many parts of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in areas with irregular power supply.
Dar said the installation was carried out without any prior written notice or detailed explanation. “They told me the flat rate is over, and smart meters are being installed everywhere,” he recalled.
The first bill generated after the smart meter installation, Dar said, was significantly higher than the flat rate he had been paying.
Dar said that after the installation of the smart meter, his household consciously reduced electricity usage compared to the period when flat-rate billing was in place.
According to him, the family now uses only about 30 to 40 per cent of the electricity they earlier consumed. “We stopped using heavy-load appliances completely,” he said. “There are no blowers, no heaters, even during this cold winter season.”
Despite this reduction, Dar said his monthly electricity bill has consistently been around ₹4,000, an amount he finds difficult to reconcile with actual usage. “If we compare how we are using electricity now, the bill should not be this high,” he said.
As an electrician, Dar said, he suspects possible technical issues with the meters. He pointed to what he described as units increasing disproportionately, even when the usage is minimal. “The units go up without much load being used,” he said. “Based on our current usage, the bill should be somewhere between ₹600 and ₹1,000.
Dar added that the discrepancy between reduced consumption and higher billing has raised concerns for him and other residents in the area.
Javeid Ahmad, a consumer from Anantnag, said the electricity bill after the installation of the smart meter has become unaffordable for his family.
“My wife works as a peon in a local school and earns ₹4,000 a month,” he said. “Due to health issues, I am hardly able to go for labour work. After the smart meter was installed, the electricity bill for our house has gone up to around ₹2,500 a month, which is beyond our monthly income.”
Maqbool said the situation has forced him to take a drastic decision. “I have decided to stop using electricity and get the connection disconnected,” he said. “We will try to rely on old traditional practices for our energy needs, because we simply cannot afford these bills anymore.”
Protests Over Smart Meters and Rising Electricity Bills
As similar billing concerns surfaced in other areas, opposition to the installation of smart meters spread across Jammu and Kashmir, setting off protests in several districts over electricity bill hikes and the shift away from the flat-rate system.
In Batgund area of Tral in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, residents staged a silent protest against the subsequent rise in electricity bills, alleging that monthly charges have increased sharply in recent months.
Abdul Ahad, a protestor said households that were earlier paying around ₹1,000 per month are now being billed nearly ₹2,000 or more, an increase they described as difficult to sustain for daily wage earners and middle-income families, particularly during the winter months.
He pointed out that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had recently stated that there would be no hike in electricity tariffs, and questioned why bills were rising despite this assurance.
“If the Chief Minister has said there will be no increase, then who is increasing our bills?” a resident said during the protest.
Gulzar Ahmad, another consumer, said, “When the Chief Minister says there is no hike in electricity tariffs, it sounds like someone whistling past the graveyard. Either he has no clue what his own departments are doing, or he thinks people are fools who won’t read their bills.”
He said the assurances coming from the top were “all talk and no action.” “On the ground, our bills are eating up our incomes.”
On January 2, protests erupted in Pallar area of Budgam district, where local women led demonstrations against the installation of smart electricity meters. The protesters claim that these meters are both "cruel" and "inappropriate" given the high levels of unemployment and poverty during the harsh winter conditions in Kashmir.
Hajira Bano, a resident, accused the authorities of pushing an unaffordable system on families already struggling to survive. “We have no income to bear this burden,” she said, adding that residents had already removed smart meters from three households in protest.
Referring to elderly parents dependent on oxygen support, she said uninterrupted electricity was a matter of life and death during winter. “Our parents are on oxygen, and that oxygen runs on electricity,” she said. “If these meters are forced on us and bills become unaffordable, it will cut off power and put lives at risk.”
A similar protest was earlier held on December 22 in Srinagar’s Maisuma area, where residents gathered to oppose the installation of smart electricity meters for similar reasons. In the last over a month, several other protests were reported from multiple districts across Kashmir, turning the issue into a territory-wide flashpoint.
In Kulgam district, CPI(M) workers and local residents staged a protest on January 10, alleging inflated power bills, frequent outages, and an unresponsive power department. Protesters said electricity supply remained erratic even as bills continued to rise.
Legislator Questions Smart Meter Push
M Y Tarigami, CPI(M) MLA from Kulgam, told the Kashmir Times that the electricity crisis in Jammu and Kashmir goes beyond billing issues, as power supply remains erratic even in major urban centres including Jammu city. “If this is the condition in the capital, one can imagine what happens in far-flung areas,” he added.
He said the Chief Minister must explain the contradiction between his public assurance of no tariff hike and the inflated bills consumers are receiving, adding that promised relief for BPL households has not materialised. "How can they (BPL households) afford this? Even common people cannot afford it. People are surviving hand to mouth," he said.
Tarigami explained that a January 10 protest by CPI(M) workers in Kulgam over inflated bills and outages was met with police lathi-charge instead of an assurance or engaging response from the Power Development Department. In a post on X, he wrote: "CPI(M) workers in Kulgam protested inflated power bills and constant outages. The police responded with lathis. Message received: stay in the dark, silently."
On smart meters, Tarigami said his party opposes their introduction, calling it "a broader push for privatisation" driven by the Union government. He questioned the logic of metering where supply itself is unreliable, arguing the electricity should remain a public utility, both in production and distribution, and not be handed over to private interests driven by profit.
He added that the government should first ensure regular power and strengthen local hydro-power generation.
"Rivers are ours," he said, adding that instead of burdening people further, particularly in winter, the government should provide relief rather than pursue what he called misplaced priorities.
No Tariff Hike on Paper, Higher Bills on the Ground
According to a PIB report issued on December 8, 2025, a total of 4.76 crore smart electricity meters have been installed across India under various central and state schemes, including the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), against 20.33 crore smart meters sanctioned nationwide.
In Jammu and Kashmir, official data shows that 10,15,139 smart meters had been installed as on November 15, 2025, as part of the ongoing smart metering rollout.
JERC Tariff Order (Order No. 16 of 2025) shows that the government had decided not to raise electricity tariffs for FY 2025–26. The order states that consumers would continue to receive power at the already notified subsidised rates without any enhancement, and that the Commission would continue the existing tariff approved for FY 2024–25.
The tariff order further notes that distribution losses are a controllable parameter and that inefficiencies cannot be passed on to consumers, while warning that a proposed 23% increase would have resulted in a tariff shock.
Peer Abdul Hameed, Executive Engineer, Kulgam, told Kashmir Times that load revisions were carried out based on ground-level verification, citing low billing efficiency as a concern.
He said the load was not increased uniformly across all households, but selectively, after preparing a proper list and conducting household-wise load checks. He added that the department addresses issues related to smart meters whenever complaints are received, and that any functional or technical problems reported by consumers are examined and rectified by field staff.
Speaking to the Kashmir Times, the Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), Electric Sub-Division Kulgam, Wajid Khan said that no tariff hike or surcharge has been implemented at the sub-divisional level, adding that tariff revisions are carried out by the Jammu and Kashmir State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JKSERC). He said that while consumer agreements had been revised, “no tariff revision has been done at our level.”
Explaining the revision of consumer agreements, the AEE said that the sanctioned domestic load in many households has been increased, citing what he described as actual usage patterns.
According to him, inspections carried out by the department showed that “almost every household is using not less than 5 to 6 KW.” He said load measurements were conducted using instruments at distribution transformers and claimed that transformers were frequently failing because they were being operated beyond their rated capacity.
On billing, the AEE said that wherever smart meters or conventional meters are installed, billing is done strictly as per recorded consumption. In areas without meters, he said consumers continue to be billed under the flat-rate system. He explained that under the flat-rate tariff, domestic consumers are charged ₹1,040 for the first 1 KW of sanctioned load, with additional charges applicable as load increases beyond prescribed limits.
Regarding meter accuracy, the AEE said that complaints are cross-checked wherever they are received, though he did not provide data on independent third-party calibration or audit exercises. He reiterated that billing is generated based on meter readings captured in the system.
On categorisation of consumers, the AEE said that electricity tariffs do not distinguish between BPL, economically weaker sections, or higher-income groups. “There is no categorisation based on economic status,” he said, adding that electricity consumption is billed uniformly based on usage.
He described electricity as a “luxury” under the existing framework. However, the Kashmir Times could not access any official document or government policy that labels electricity as a ‘luxury item’.
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