Smart Meters Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Smart Meters Market is projected to expand from USD 29.26 Billion in 2025 to USD 51.13 Billion by 2031, achieving a CAGR of 9.75%. Smart meters are digital devices that measure energy usage in near real-time while enabling two-way communication between utility providers and consumers. This technology facilitates precise billing, remote monitoring, and enhanced demand-side management. The market's growth is primarily driven by the urgent necessity for grid modernization to support renewable energy integration and strict government mandates designed to improve energy efficiency. These regulatory frameworks require utilities to upgrade their infrastructure, ensuring a consistent demand for advanced metering solutions. For example, the Institute for Electric Innovation projected in 2024 that the number of smart meters installed in the United States would reach 142 million by 2026, demonstrating the strong trajectory of deployment in key markets.

Despite this growth, the market encounters a major challenge regarding data privacy and cybersecurity. Since these devices transmit detailed consumption patterns, concerns about unauthorized access and the potential misuse of personal information have sparked consumer resistance and increased regulatory scrutiny. This issue compels manufacturers and utilities to dedicate significant resources to securing communication networks, which can raise implementation costs and prolong project timelines, potentially slowing down broader market adoption.

Market Drivers

Supportive government policies and regulatory mandates serve as the primary catalyst for the widespread adoption of smart metering solutions. Governments globally are establishing strict targets and rollout schedules to ensure the shift from analog to digital infrastructure, motivated by energy security goals and carbon reduction commitments. These frameworks frequently place binding obligations on utility providers to reach specific installation milestones, guaranteeing a baseline of market activity regardless of economic fluctuations. For instance, the UK Parliament's 'Smart Metering Implementation Programme Costs and Benefits Report' from November 2024 noted that by the end of June 2024, there were 36.2 million smart and advanced meters installed in Great Britain, accounting for 63% of all gas and electricity meters. Such mandates effectively force the retirement of legacy equipment, ensuring sustained demand for new units.

Concurrently, the modernization of aging grid infrastructure and significant investments in smart grids are essential for managing the complexities of modern energy systems. Utilities are upgrading networks to handle bi-directional power flows from distributed energy resources and to improve resilience against severe weather events. This structural overhaul necessitates advanced metering infrastructure to provide real-time visibility and control. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its 'World Energy Investment 2024' report released in June 2024, global spending on grids was projected to reach USD 400 billion in 2024, highlighting the massive capital allocation toward network digitalization. Emerging economies are also participating in this shift to reduce commercial losses and improve collection efficiency; as reported by Rediff Money in December 2024, approximately 7.3 million smart prepaid meters had been installed in India by November 2024 under the government's Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme.

Market Challenges

The Global Smart Meters Market faces a significant impediment regarding data privacy and cybersecurity, which directly hampers the speed and breadth of market expansion. Because smart meters facilitate two-way communication and transmit granular energy usage data, they introduce complex vulnerabilities that can be exploited for unauthorized surveillance or service disruption. This heightened risk profile generates substantial consumer skepticism and triggers rigorous scrutiny from regulatory bodies, who increasingly demand military-grade encryption and stringent data handling protocols before approving new deployments. The necessity to meet these elevated security standards complicates the procurement process and extends project lead times, preventing utilities from executing rapid rollout strategies.

These security requirements impose a severe financial burden that diverts capital away from network expansion. Utilities and manufacturers are forced to allocate a disproportionate share of their budgets toward hardening infrastructure against cyber threats rather than increasing the volume of meter installations. According to the Edison Electric Institute, in 2024, U.S. electric companies invested a record $178.2 billion to make the energy grid smarter and more secure, utilizing substantial capital to integrate resilience and protection measures. This massive expenditure on security compliance significantly raises the total cost of ownership for smart metering projects. Consequently, smaller utility providers often delay adoption due to budget constraints, while larger entities slow their deployment pace to manage the soaring costs of securing the digital grid.

Market Trends

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) is fundamentally shifting the market from simple data collection to advanced predictive analytics and automated grid management. Utilities are increasingly embedding AI algorithms directly into Meter Data Management (MDM) systems to automate labor-intensive tasks such as Validation, Estimation, and Editing (VEE), which traditionally required significant manual intervention. This technological leap allows for the real-time identification of non-technical losses and the prediction of asset failures with unprecedented accuracy, directly addressing operational inefficiencies. For instance, according to Investing.com in June 2025, in the article 'Oracle boosts utility data management with AI and in-memory processing', benchmarks for a new AI-powered platform demonstrated a 63% reduction in false positive high-usage exceptions, significantly lowering operational overhead for utility providers.

Simultaneously, the adoption of Cellular IoT and 5G connectivity is rapidly emerging as a superior alternative to proprietary Radio Frequency (RF) mesh networks for smart meter deployments. Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies, such as NB-IoT and LTE-M, offer deeper penetration in hard-to-reach areas and eliminate the need for utilities to build and maintain their own communication infrastructure. This trend is further accelerated by the emergence of Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) models, which allow municipalities to outsource connectivity management and focus on resource conservation. A notable example of this shift occurred when the City of Tucson committed to a major infrastructure upgrade; according to Smart Cities World in December 2025, in the article 'Tucson partners with Itron to conserve water', the utility began a deployment of 250,000 smart communication modules that utilize a managed cellular network to enhance water conservation efforts.

Key Players Profiled in the Smart Meters Market

• Landis+Gyr Group AG
• Itron, Inc.
• Elster Group GmbH
• Sensus USA Inc.
• Hubbell Incorporated
• Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG
• Emerson Process Management LLP
• Badger Meter, Inc.
• Flonidan A/S
• Schneider Electric SE

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Smart Meters Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Smart Meters Market, by Technology:

• Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)
• Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)

Smart Meters Market, by Type:

• Energy
• Water
• Gas

Smart Meters Market, by Application:

• Industrial
• Commercial
• Residential

Smart Meters Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Smart Meters Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

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