India’s Ministry of Power has issued the National Electricity Data Sharing Framework, 2026, to standardise how electricity data is shared securely. The framework distinguishes between public and access-controlled datasets, including de-identified smart meter data, while outlining safeguards for data quality, privacy and security.
We covered its key provisions in our earlier news article, India Outlines Framework for Secure Electricity Data Sharing.
For DISCOMs adopting the framework, compliance raises a practical question: how can teams prepare electricity data from multiple systems for authorised sharing while meeting the applicable requirements?
Consider a monthly smart meter consumption report. Preparing it involves joining datasets, analysing and validating consumption data, and exporting the report. We'll use this example to compare manual preparation with a scheduled WorkOnGrid reporting workflow.
The Reporting Task: Preparing Aggregated Smart Meter Consumption Data
Consider a DISCOM preparing a monthly electricity consumption report for authorised data sharing. The objective is to report how much electricity was consumed across different service areas during the month, without exposing individual consumer information.
The data comes from two sources. Smart meter consumption readings are available through the Head-End System (HES) or Meter Data Management (MDM) system. Meter master records help link those readings to the correct service areas using meter identifiers.
The final report should show the reporting period, service area and total electricity consumption in kWh. Before generating it, the DISCOM must account for missing readings, check whether meters are mapped to the correct service areas and ensure that consumer-identifying information is excluded from the shared output.
What Happens When You Prepare a Smart Meter Data Report Manually?
Preparing a monthly electricity consumption report manually involves coordinating data extraction, analysis and BI export across separate tools. Here's how the process works.
Step 1: Extract the required datasets
The reporting team exports smart meter consumption readings for the selected month from HES or MDM, along with meter master records containing meter identifiers and their associated service areas.
Step 2: Join and validate the data
Using SQL, spreadsheets or other data-processing tools, the team matches consumption readings with meter master records through meter identifiers. It checks for missing readings, duplicate records and incorrect service-area mappings that could affect the report.
Step 3: Analyse electricity consumption
The team calculates total electricity consumption in kWh for each service area during the reporting month. It aggregates the results and removes consumer-identifying information from the report output.
Step 4: Generate and export the report
The prepared dataset is brought into a Business Intelligence (BI) tool to generate a report showing the reporting period, service area and total electricity consumption. The team reviews the results and exports the report in the required format for approval and authorised sharing.
What happens the following month?
The team needs to refresh the source data again, validate updated records, rerun the analysis and generate the next report. Existing queries and report templates can be reused, but the recurring process still requires coordination across the reporting steps.
How Can You Automate the Same Smart Meter Data Report with WorkOnGrid?
For DISCOMs preparing electricity data for authorised sharing, maintaining a consistent reporting process across multiple reporting periods is important. As new smart meter data becomes available, the same reporting rules and calculations need to be applied to generate comparable outputs.
WorkOnGrid allows reporting teams to configure the reporting logic once and schedule recurring report generation using updated data. The generated reports remain subject to the utility's review and approval before sharing.
Here's how the process works for our monthly electricity consumption report.
Step 1: Connect the required datasets
WorkOnGrid's Integration Layer and Data Hub bring together smart meter consumption readings from HES or MDM and the relevant meter master records, making them available for reporting.
This is a one-time integration setup for these data sources. Once connected, the datasets can be reused for subsequent reports and other use cases without having to establish the same connections again.
Step 2: Configure the reporting query
Using the Querying & Reporting Engine, the reporting team defines a query that joins consumption readings with meter master records, groups the data by service area and calculates total electricity consumption in kWh.
The query can also apply the required filters and exclude consumer-identifying fields from the reporting output. The team must verify the data-quality checks and aggregation logic before scheduling the report.
Step 3: Schedule the report and configure the export
Once the query is saved and validated, the team schedules it to run monthly using the appropriate reporting-period parameters. The report can be configured for export in supported formats such as CSV, XLSX or JSON.
Step 4: Review the generated report
The generated report shows the reporting period, service areas and aggregated electricity consumption. The responsible team reviews the results, checks for data-quality exceptions and confirms that the output is appropriate for authorised sharing.
What happens after the first report?
WorkOnGrid runs the saved reporting query on schedule using updated data and generates the next month's report. The reporting team reviews the output, resolves exceptions and approves it before sharing.
If the DISCOM needs a different report using the same data sources, the team only needs to configure a new query. Additional data sources need to be connected only if the new report requires them.
Keeping Electricity Data Sharing Secure
For DISCOMs adopting the framework, preparing an accurate report is only part of the responsibility. Sharing information beyond its approved scope could expose sensitive electricity data or consumer information to unauthorised users.
A controlled reporting process helps utilities manage this risk while preparing data for authorised sharing.
Looking to simplify compliance-related smart meter data reporting? Talk to our team to see how WorkOnGrid can support your utility's data preparation and reporting requirements.
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