Future growth for remote metering

'Smart' metering — the remote management of utility meters by means of two-way communication with the utility — is expected to boom in the next five years, according to a study from ABI Research.

Although world markets for electric, water and gas meters are increasing at a compound annual growth rate of only 2%, the smart metering subset — also called AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) or AMM (advanced meter management) — is expected to show a much healthier 24% CAGR through 2013.

By that year, 28% of electric meters are expected to be 'smart'.

The US has seen the evolution of a large and varied market for smart metering. However, Europe — which prior to 2000 had seen few smart metering projects — is currently far ahead of the US in the total number of smart meter deployments.

The recent traction enjoyed by AMI in Europe stems largely from a five-year deployment carried out by the Italian electric utility ENEL, which has become the model emulated by other utilities in the region.

"The original intent of an earlier generation of advanced metering technology, called AMR (advanced meter reading), was to save on the cost of manual meter reading," said senior analyst Sam Lucero.

"Today's AMI, however, is increasingly seen as an effective way to increase the efficiency of energy use and reduce a region's carbon footprint."

ABI Research's study, Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), analyses the global market opportunity for smart metering, including the sub-set home area networking (HAN), on a worldwide basis. It provides five-year forecasts for numerous components and elements of smart metering and HAN infrastructure. Specific communications technologies include fixed RF, powerline, cellular, WiMAX, and ZigBee.