The smart meters refers to electronic device, which is used for recording the consumption level of electricity, water and gas at intervals of an hour or less, and provides such information to the utility for billing and monitoring. Smart meters facilitate two-way communication between the central system and the meter.
The increasing smart grid deployment, government policies supporting installation of smart meters and energy conservation offered by smart meters are driving the growth of the global smart meters market. Development in smart grid deployment is being made in various fields, such as programmable communicating thermostats, advanced metering infrastructure, and integration of communications, sensing and control technologies with field devices in distribution systems. The deployment of high-speed communication networks and advanced sensors on transmission systems is improving the ability to control and monitor operations across the transmission grid at high-voltage substations. Smart meters consist of digital displays for displaying detailed energy usage and the cost related to the energy usage. With detailed energy usage and cost displayed on digital display, the consumers are able to understand and act accordingly for energy conservation.
Grid operators managing the demand for power is providing ample growth opportunities for the global smart meters market. Whereas, lack of interoperability and lack of awareness about smart meters among consumers are restraining the growth of the global smart meters market. Mostly, low income consumers globally have less awareness about the smart meters than general population, and they also have low understanding for increasing the energy efficiency of their households. Common standards within different smart meter providers are required for ensuring that consumers can switch the supplier without the need for changing the already installed smart meters. These standards will also decrease the technical barriers faced by suppliers, to interact with smart meters installed by their competitors.
Some of the key players operating in the smart meters market are Itron Inc, Iskraemeco d.d, Landis+Gyr Ag, Osaka Electric Co. Ltd, Elster Group GmbH, Siemens AG, General Electric Company, ICSA(India) Limited, Schneider Electric Sa, and Holley Metering Ltd.
