Smart water, gas, and electricity meters facilitate a bidirectional flow of information, owing to which they are being increasingly deployed on the premises of end users. These meters use a local area network (LAN) to gather data regarding the utility consumption of all appliances at frequent intervals. The information collected from individual smart meters is accumulated by local data aggregators, using neighborhood area networks (NANs). The data collected during this phase is then transmitted to the utility center through a wide area network (WAN).

On the other hand, the utilities can send commands, information, or other signals to the meter installed at the end user’s premises and even remotely connect or disconnect the resource supply. This feature will help the smart meters market grow at a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period (2020–2030). Additionally, a surging number of government policies supporting their installation will help their sales value grow from $13.1 billion in 2019 to $20.0 billion in 2030. For example, in February 2020, the government of India completed the installation of 1 million of these under its Smart Meter National Programme.

Get More Insights: Smart Meters Market Revenue Estimation and Growth Forecast Report

In the recent past, electricity meters were installed in the highest numbers due to the soaring support of government and global bodies for their installation for energy conservation, fraud detection, and peak consumption knowledge. Apart from these, governments are encouraging the adoption of such measuring devices for accurate billing. All such smart meters are based on either the automatic meter reading (AMR) or the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology.

The application segment of the smart meters market is categorized into industrial, water utilities, commercial, and residential. Under this segment, the residential category accounted for the largest market share during the historical period (2014–2019), and it is expected to retain its dominance during the forecast period. This can be owed to the burgeoning electricity demand from residential buildings and standalone houses, which is propelling the installation of these devices to reduce the demand for surplus energy from fossil fuel plants, and the increasing public inclination toward peak-time energy saving.