Smart meter shipments to reach above 100 million units in 2014

Date: 03/09/2013
IHS has reported the shipment of communication-enabled meters (smart meters interfaced with wired and wireless communication feature) to reach more than hundred million units in 2014 and remain steady up to 2017.

IHS has estimated a shipment of 82 million meters in 2013. By 2017 these meters are expected to account for almost $5 billion in revenue for meter manufacturers, as per IHS.

Smart meter


Further analytical points shared by IHS includes:
The projection comes despite a rapidly decreasing North American market given the drying up of government funding, watered-down meter legislation in Latin America and continuing delays to the long-expected smart meter rollouts in the European Union.

“While it is true that growth in many of the traditional markets for advanced metering solutions has been disappointing in recent years, there is quite a bit of good news as well,” said Jacob Pereira, IHS analyst for smart utilities infrastructure. “China’s massive infrastructure-modernization effort includes a continuing countrywide overhaul of old metering systems, and that can make a big difference in a country of well over 400 million metering endpoints. In addition, recent announcements from some of the larger EU economies have added clarity to when their long-anticipated rollouts will begin in earnest, charging up the market.”

Even so, the majority of communicating meters being installed in Chinese homes and businesses do not meet the “smart” criterion for many people, Pereira noted. “These meters are simple one-way communicating devices used for automatic meter reading, not the advanced functions usually associated with the word ‘smart.’ However, the European meter rollouts expected to start up within the next few years will generally incorporate multiple other features,” Pereira added.

The news of future growth is sure to be a relief to many manufacturers who have become used to dismal news in recent years, such as the end to U.S. stimulus funding, Brazil’s disappointing meter mandates and multiple delays to European rollouts.

“The market for communicating meters isn’t stopping, or even slowing for that matter,” Pereira observed. “It’s just changing locations.”