Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

It’s Shaswata again for Green Margins this week. 

The low hum of air conditioners and the intermittent groans of backup generators are an inescapable part of India’s summer soundscape. As are month-end tears when the electricity bill comes due. 

But there’s a solution (for part of the problem, at least) that’s been rolling out for the past few years—smart, digital metering. Or rather, what smart metering allows you to do, which is switch over to a prepaid electricity plan. 

A study released a few weeks ago by Delhi-based think tank Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) shows that there are many things consumers like about it:

• around half of the 2,700 users surveyed report receiving their electricity bills more regularly; 
• two-thirds say paying the bills is much easier; 
• and over a third report a drop in instances of electricity theft, improved supply to the locality, and a greater sense of control over electricity expenses.

I guess watching your power balance steadily leaking away has a marked effect on consumer discipline, and smart meter users I spoke to for this edition agree that they’ve started using power more conscientiously.