Abstract This paper focuses on the performance analysis of short blocklength communication with application in smart grids. We use stochastic geometry to compute in closed form the success probability of a typical message transmission as a function of its size (i.e., blocklength), the number of information bits, and the density of interferers. Two different scenarios are investigated: 1) dynamic spectrum access, where the licensed and unlicensed users share the uplink channel frequency band and 2) local licensing approach using the so called micro-operator, which holds an exclusive license of its own. Approximated outage probability expression is derived for the dynamic spectrum access scenario, while a closed-form solution is attained for the micro-operator. The analysis also incorporates the use of retransmissions when messages are detected in error. Our numerical results show how reliability and delay are related in either scenarios.