India sees AI transforming power distribution networks

AI solutions will restore trust by preventing outages and protecting honest consumers from theft.

India sees artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) based applications playing a pivotal role in building intelligent, consumer-centric, self-optimising distribution networks.

In a speech during a conference, Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar noted that the AI/ML-based solutions, smart meter analytics, digital twins, predictive maintenance, theft detection intelligence, appliance-level consumer insights, automated outage prediction and GenAI-based decision support can transform both consumer experience and operational efficiency.

“The Minister urged all DISCOMs to work closely with ecosystem stakeholders to transition towards smart, reliable, and consumer-focused distribution systems. He remarked that there was also a need to actively engage consumers,” the Ministry of Power said in a statement.

“It is important to remove misinformation that sometimes surrounds new technologies and to win the valuable support of consumers for technology adoption in the sector,” it added.

The minister noted that the AI/ML-based solutions highlight a powerful narrative of technology restoring trust, empowering households to manage their consumption better, preventing outages before they occur, protecting honest consumers from theft burdens and enabling DISCOMs to reduce losses, optimise power purchase costs and reinvest in stronger infrastructure.