The smart meters market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 12.79 billion in 2017 to USD 19.98 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 9.34% from 2017 to 2022. The global market is witnessing a significant growth, which is driven by government policies, energy conservation, increasing smart grid deployment, and utilities urge to enhance distribution efficiency.
Residential – the largest smart meters market by application
The smart meters market has been classified based on application, into three segments, namely, residential, commercial, and industrial. The residential segment accounted for the largest market size, in terms of value, in 2016. The meters measure the electricity, water, and gas consumption and communicate this to the central utility system. The installations of these devices in the residential sector helps in reducing CO2 emissions globally as the consumer’s inclination towards peak time savings of energy would increase. The increasing residential construction activities and government mandates such as the European Union 20-20-20 policy, which aims to convert 80% of the installed meter base to smart one, have ensured the growth in the demand for smart meters.
‘The AMR technology segment would dominate the global smart meters market’
The Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) segment was estimated to be the largest market for smart meters in 2016. AMR is a metering technology that collects consumption data from the meters and transfers it to a central database (in the utility station) for billing and other purposes (one-way communication only). It is the initially developed smart metering technology and, hence, it has widely been adopted since its inception. North America and Europe are the regions that have much embraced this technology. It is less costly when compared to the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and, hence, has a high market size.
North America: The leading market for smart meters
The North American market dominates the smart meters market during the forecast period. In North America, the growth of the smart meters market can be attributed to focus on electricity, water, & gas, monitoring & prevention of leakage, and the repair & upgrade of aging infrastructure. Lot of smart meters rollouts are taking place in countries such as the US, Canada, and Mexico which would impart growth in the North American region.
To provide an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes profiles of some of the leading players in the smart meters market, namely, Itron Inc (US), Kamstrup A/S (Denmark), Holley Metering, Ltd (China), Honeywell International, Inc (US), and Toshiba Corporation (Japan). Leading players are trying to penetrate the markets in developing economies and are adopting various strategies to increase their market share.
