Andhra, UP, and Rajasthan best performers in electricity transition: Report
India's electricity transition is maturing with the expansion of renewable energy, decoupling economic growth from emissions, smart metering, and adopting a green tariff
- Feb 23, 2026,
- Updated Feb 23, 2026 1:29 PM IST
India’s electricity transition at the sub-national level is no longer marked by a few leading states, but rather wider, albeit uneven, progress across states, according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and Ember.
Also read: 'It takes a lot of energy to train a human too': OpenAI's Sam Altman counters AI power criticism
The third edition of IEEFA and Ember’s Indian States’ Electricity Transition (SET) report highlights that while some states are continuing to advance steadily, others have built momentum and a strong foundation for rapid progress.
The uneven progress is the result of differences in resources, development priorities, and institutional capacities. The report looked at 21 states that account for 95% of India’s power demand.
Karnataka remained the top performer in the decarbonisation dimension of the report. Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, too, did well in this dimension, which tracks states’ progress in expanding renewable electricity and decoupling economic growth from emissions.
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan improved their performance on this count owing to their interventions in improving energy efficiency, reflected in their State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI) 2024 scores.
The readiness and performance of the power ecosystem dimension, which assesses distributed solar adoption, power supply reliability, and DISCOM performance of the states, incorporated stakeholder feedback to strengthen the assessment parameters. These changes better align the dimension with the current realities.
Even after incorporating the changes to the parameters, Delhi and Haryana continued to perform strongly. Robust distributed solar adoption in these states, alongside reliable power supply and relatively sound DISCOM performance, supported their performance.
Chhattisgarh and Bihar, too, stood out in this dimension due to improvements in their DISCOM performance since the SET 2024 analysis. In FY25, Chhattisgarh recorded a negligible power supply shortage of 0.07%, while Bihar recorded the best improvement in smart meter deployment (78% of its sanctioned meters) under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) as of March 2025.
“For states with potential to improve on this dimension, targeted reforms could unlock faster progress. Strengthening DISCOM finances, ensuring timely subsidies, adopting cost-reflective tariffs, and enhancing billing and collection through digitisation and smart metering will help reduce risk perception and enable DISCOMs to scale renewable energy procurement effectively,” says co-author Saloni Sachdeva Michael, Clean Energy Specialist, IEEFA.
The final dimension, market enablers, examines state initiatives supporting the adoption of EVs and green hydrogen, and measures like green tariffs and energy storage to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. There are also changes in the parameters of this dimension compared to SET 2024.
The changes resulted in significant movement in 2024. Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan are now the strongest performers in this dimension. Their performance was supported by updated renewable energy policies, adoption of green tariffs, and solar-hour-aligned time-of-day (ToD) tariffs. Uttar Pradesh demonstrated strong momentum in EV deployment, while Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan also made moderate progress in this area.
Maharashtra and Rajasthan need to strengthen DISCOM operations, boost short-term market participation, expand distributed solar and smart meters deployment to better prepare their power ecosystem for the transition. On the other hand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh need to accelerate mobility transitions, deploy energy storage capacities and strengthen ToD tariff and green tariff mechanisms to progress on their transition journeys.
India’s electricity transition at the sub-national level is no longer marked by a few leading states, but rather wider, albeit uneven, progress across states, according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and Ember.
Also read: 'It takes a lot of energy to train a human too': OpenAI's Sam Altman counters AI power criticism
The third edition of IEEFA and Ember’s Indian States’ Electricity Transition (SET) report highlights that while some states are continuing to advance steadily, others have built momentum and a strong foundation for rapid progress.
The uneven progress is the result of differences in resources, development priorities, and institutional capacities. The report looked at 21 states that account for 95% of India’s power demand.
Karnataka remained the top performer in the decarbonisation dimension of the report. Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, too, did well in this dimension, which tracks states’ progress in expanding renewable electricity and decoupling economic growth from emissions.
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan improved their performance on this count owing to their interventions in improving energy efficiency, reflected in their State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI) 2024 scores.
The readiness and performance of the power ecosystem dimension, which assesses distributed solar adoption, power supply reliability, and DISCOM performance of the states, incorporated stakeholder feedback to strengthen the assessment parameters. These changes better align the dimension with the current realities.
Even after incorporating the changes to the parameters, Delhi and Haryana continued to perform strongly. Robust distributed solar adoption in these states, alongside reliable power supply and relatively sound DISCOM performance, supported their performance.
Chhattisgarh and Bihar, too, stood out in this dimension due to improvements in their DISCOM performance since the SET 2024 analysis. In FY25, Chhattisgarh recorded a negligible power supply shortage of 0.07%, while Bihar recorded the best improvement in smart meter deployment (78% of its sanctioned meters) under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) as of March 2025.
“For states with potential to improve on this dimension, targeted reforms could unlock faster progress. Strengthening DISCOM finances, ensuring timely subsidies, adopting cost-reflective tariffs, and enhancing billing and collection through digitisation and smart metering will help reduce risk perception and enable DISCOMs to scale renewable energy procurement effectively,” says co-author Saloni Sachdeva Michael, Clean Energy Specialist, IEEFA.
The final dimension, market enablers, examines state initiatives supporting the adoption of EVs and green hydrogen, and measures like green tariffs and energy storage to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. There are also changes in the parameters of this dimension compared to SET 2024.
The changes resulted in significant movement in 2024. Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan are now the strongest performers in this dimension. Their performance was supported by updated renewable energy policies, adoption of green tariffs, and solar-hour-aligned time-of-day (ToD) tariffs. Uttar Pradesh demonstrated strong momentum in EV deployment, while Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan also made moderate progress in this area.
Maharashtra and Rajasthan need to strengthen DISCOM operations, boost short-term market participation, expand distributed solar and smart meters deployment to better prepare their power ecosystem for the transition. On the other hand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh need to accelerate mobility transitions, deploy energy storage capacities and strengthen ToD tariff and green tariff mechanisms to progress on their transition journeys.