Smart Metering in North America 6th Edition

Smart Metering in North America 6th Edition

Smart Metering in North America is the sixth consecutive market report from Berg Insight analysing the latest smart metering developments in the US and Canada covering both electricity and gas. This strategic research report from Berg Insight provides you with over 125 pages of unique business intelligence, including 5-year industry forecasts, expert commentary and real-life case studies on which to base your business decisions.

Smart Metering in North America 6th Edition

Smart metering is widely regarded as the cornerstone for future smart grids and is currently being deployed all over the developed world, with a growing number of large-scale initiatives now also being launched in developing countries. Asia-Pacific constitutes the largest market by far while North America ranks as the third largest market after Europe. North America and Europe are two highly dynamic market regions that saw a wave of massive smart metering projects being launched or completed during the first half of the past decade. Several major utilities in these regions are thus now preparing for a second-wave of deployments to take off, driven by new smart meter functionalities and smart energy use-cases. Berg Insight forecasts that the installed base of smart electricity meters in North America will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.8 percent throughout the forecast period, from 145.9 million in 2023 to a total of 182.9 million in 2029. The installed base of smart electricity meters in the US reached 130.6 million in 2023, while the installed base of smart electricity meters in Canada reached 15.4 million in the same year. The penetration of smart electricity meters is higher in Canada compared to the US however this difference is expected to continuously shrink until 2029 when the countries are forecasted to have penetration rates of 96 percent and 94 percent respectively.

North America was the first region in the world to move beyond traditional energy metering through the widespread introduction of AMR which started in the 1980s. Today, intelligent grids are becoming an integral part of the development of smart cities, and smart meters’ ability to improve the reliability and resilience of energy supply constitutes an important driver of growth in the region. A significant majority of the large investor-owned utilities in North America are now either fully deployed or in the implementation or planning phases of large-scale projects, and a second-wave of deployments is now on the horizon for the early adopters. The penetration of smart electricity meters in the region was around 80 percent in 2023 and expected to increase to above 94 percent in 2029, mostly driven by large investor-owned utility projects in the US as the relatively mature market in Canada is only expected to see moderate growth. In terms of total shipments of smart electricity meters, second-wave rollouts for early adopters are ramping up and will grow their share of annual shipment volumes throughout the forecast period, accounting for more than 85 percent by the end of the forecast period.

The market in North America is dominated by the two US-based companies AcIara and Itron, as well as Swiss-based Landis+Gyr. Itron and Landis+Gyr have a 34 and 32 percent market share respectively of the installed base of smart electricity meters in North America. Aclara is in third place with a market share of 22 percent and the remaining 13 percent is predominately shared between Honeywell and Sensus. In terms of network endpoints, the largest player is Itron with a Smart metering is widely regarded as the cornerstone for future smart grids and is currently being deployed all over the developed world, with a growing number of large-scale initiatives now also being launched in developing countries. Asia-Pacific constitutes the largest market by far while North America ranks as the third largest market after Europe. North America and Europe are two highly dynamic market regions that saw a wave of massive smart metering projects being launched or completed during the first half of the past decade. Several major utilities in these regions are thus now preparing for a second-wave of deployments to take off, driven by new smart meter functionalities and smart energy use-cases. Berg Insight forecasts that the installed base of smart electricity meters in North America will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.8 percent throughout the forecast period, from 145.9 million in 2023 to a total of 182.9 million in 2029. The installed base of smart electricity meters in the US reached 130.6 million in 2023, while the installed base of smart electricity meters in Canada reached 15.4 million in the same year. The penetration of smart electricity meters is higher in Canada compared to the US however this difference is expected to continuously shrink until 2029 when the countries are forecasted to have penetration rates of 96 percent and 94 percent respectively.

North America was the first region in the world to move beyond traditional energy metering through the widespread introduction of AMR which started in the 1980s. Today, intelligent grids are becoming an integral part of the development of smart cities, and smart meters’ ability to improve the reliability and resilience of energy supply constitutes an important driver of growth in the region. A significant majority of the large investor-owned utilities in North America are now either fully deployed or in the implementation or planning phases of large-scale projects, and a second-wave of deployments is now on the horizon for the early adopters. The penetration of smart electricity meters in the region was around 80 percent in 2023 and expected to increase to above 94 percent in 2029, mostly driven by large investor-owned utility projects in the US as the relatively mature market in Canada is only expected to see moderate growth. In terms of total shipments of smart electricity meters, second-wave rollouts for early adopters are ramping up and will grow their share of annual shipment volumes throughout the forecast period, accounting for more than 85 percent by the end of the forecast period.

The market in North America is dominated by the two US-based companies AcIara and Itron, as well as Swiss-based Landis+Gyr. Itron and Landis+Gyr have a 34 and 32 percent market share respectively of the installed base of smart electricity meters in North America. Aclara is in third place with a market share of 22 percent and the remaining 13 percent is predominately shared between Honeywell and Sensus. In terms of network endpoints, the largest player is Itron with a market share of 63 percent, followed by Landis+Gyr with a market share of 25 percent and Sensus with an 8 percent market share.

North America is a technologically advanced market where smart electricity metering is implemented in the context of the smart grid. Wireless RF technologies are today preferred and account for the vast majority of installations, both in the electricity and the gas sectors. The leading players provide proprietary RF mesh or star topology platforms for the unlicensed 915 MHz ISM band, in addition to licensed sub-GHz spectrums. Wi-SUN-based mesh networks offered by vendors such as Landis+Gyr and Itron is currently the most widespread variant and also accounts for the majority of shipments. In the North American region PLC has generally been perceived as inferior in terms of performance and cost mainly due to the characteristics of the grid, where the ratio of meters per substation is low. Cellular communications have historically enjoyed limited adoption in the region, mainly because being perceived as too costly compared to RF communications. A few significant cellular deployments totalling less than 5 million meters have however been made throughout the past decade.