New Delhi [India], December 7 (ANI): Manohar Lal, Minister of Power, on Sunday urged all DISCOMs to work closely with ecosystem stakeholders to transition towards smart, reliable, and consumer-focused distribution systems.

The Minister was addressing the participants of the Two-day National Conference focusing on the use of AI/ML technologies in the power distribution sector, at Bharat Mandapam in the national capital today.

He noted that there was also a need to actively engage consumers. 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, the Minister added.

Lal lauded the active participation of industry, states, innovators, academia, and technology partners at the National Conference. He appreciated the AI/ML solutions presented by Distribution Companies (DISCOMs), Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Providers (AMISPs), Technology Solution Providers (TSPs) and Home Automation Solution Providers (HASPs).

He 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.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based applications will play a pivotal role in building intelligent, consumer-centric, self-optimising distribution networks, he stated.

Lal 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--positioning India as a global leader in digital electricity reform and future-ready grid governance.

Addressing the National Conference, Pankaj Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Power, highlighted the Ministry's commitment to strengthen digitalisation across DISCOMs and promote adoption of AI/ML-based solutions that deliver measurable operational and financial improvements.

He stressed the importance of capacity building, secure data-sharing frameworks, and interoperability to ensure that innovations showcased during the conference can be scaled nationwide to facilitate the energy transition across the country. (ANI)