Smart Metering in Asia-Pacific

Executive Summary

Asia-Pacific soon to be home to 1 billion smart meters

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 world’s largest metering market by far with around 1.6 billion electricity and gas customers - more than North America and Europe combined. Annual demand for electricity meters in the region is in the range of 110-190 million units, of which China accounts for the majority. The region saw a wave of massive smart metering projects being launched during the first half of the past decade and several utilities in the region are now preparing for rollouts of second-generation meters to take off, driven by new smart meter functionalities and smart energy use cases. Other markets in South and Southeast Asia are on the other hand just beginning their smart metering journeys, following in the footsteps of the leading markets in East Asia.

The publisher forecasts that the installed base of smart electricity meters in Asia-Pacific - defined as China, Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand - will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2 percent throughout the forecast period, from 757.7 million in 2021 to 1.1 billion in 2027. Shipments will to a large extent be driven by first-wave installations in India as well as by replacements of first-generation meters in China and Japan, while emerging markets in South and Southeast Asia will contribute with increasingly large volumes throughout the forecast period. In total, the publisher forecasts that more than 0.9 billion smart electricity meters will be shipped in Asia Pacific during 2021-2027. The installed base of smart gas metering endpoints in Asia-Pacific is at the same time expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.2 percent throughout the forecast period, from 124.5 million in 2021 to 357.1 million in 2027. China accounts for the vast majority of the market, both in terms of installed base and annual shipment volumes, although emerging markets are expected to account for a significant increase in annual shipments throughout the forecast period.

East Asia - defined as China, Japan and South Korea - has led the adoption of smart metering technology in Asia-Pacific with ambitious national rollouts and today accounts for more than 95 percent of the installed base of smart electricity meters in the region. The rollout of smart electricity meters in China is now complete while Japan and South Korea are expected to reach full coverage in the coming few years. In China and Japan, replacements of first-generation smart meters have already begun and will dominate shipment volumes in the region in the coming years. East Asia also constitutes the leading adopter of smart gas metering technology in Asia-Pacific, accounting for nearly all installed devices and forecasted shipment volumes in the coming years. South Asia - defined as India and Bangladesh - will constitute the fastest growing smart electricity metering market in Asia-Pacific throughout the forecast period with ambitious governmental initiatives now in place in both India and Bangladesh. The former has for example set a highly ambitious target of reaching 250 million installed smart prepayment meters by 2026. Southeast Asia - defined as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines - on the other hand constitutes the most nascent smart metering market in Asia-Pacific. The main utilities in Indonesia and Thailand are now at the very beginning of their large-scale smart metering implementation plans while the leading utilities in the Philippines have similar ambitions. In Vietnam, the national utility has rolled out basic remote metering technologies for years with a vision to eventually transition to more advanced technologies. Australasia - defined as Australia and New Zealand - is characterised by a market-driven and retailer-led approach to smart metering. Nearly half of all smart meters in Australia are now smart while New Zealand has reached a natural saturation of around 90 percent with second-generation installations now about to take off.

The markets in Asia-Pacific are largely dominated by local or regional players and only a few companies such as Landis+Gyr, Itron, EDMI (Osaki Electric) and Trilliant have managed to establish a notable presence in multiple markets across the region. In terms of smart meter communications, domestic PLC technologies dominate the electricity markets in China and South Korea while RF mesh is the main option in Japan. Cellular communications has meanwhile emerged as the dominant technology in Australasia as well as the leading option in India, where RF mesh also has a significant market share. The LPWA technologies NB-IoT, LTE-M, LoRa and Sigfox have at the same time emerged as the favoured options for smart gas metering projects across Asia-Pacific, although major regional differences can be seen.

• Accenture
• Aichi Tokei Denki
• Allied Engineering Works
• Chinese & Korean PLC
• CHINT Instrument & Meter
• Clou Electronics
• CyanConnode
• Dongfang Wisdom Electric
• EDF
• EDMI (Osaki Electric)
• Fluentgrid
• Fuji Electric
• Fujitsu
• Genesis Gas Solutions
• Genus Power Infrastructures
• GoldCard Smart Group
• Hansen Technologies
• Hexing Electrical
• Holley Technology
• Honeywell
• HPL Electric & Power
• Iljin Electric
• Innover Technology
• ITI Limited
• Itron
• Kaifa Technology
• KDDI
• Landis+Gyr
• Larsen & Toubro
• Linyang Energy
• Londian Wason Electrics
• LS Electric
• Mitsubishi Electric
• NamJun
• NuriFlex
• Oculin Tech
• Omni System
• Oracle
• Osaki Electric
• PSTEC
• Sanxing Electric
• SAP
• Schneider Electric
• Secure Meters
• Siemens
• Star Instrument
• Suntront Technology
• Telstra
• Toshiba Toko Meter Systems
• TOYOKEIKI
• Trilliant
• UnaBiz
• Viewshine
• Vodafone
• Wasion
• Wirepas
• XJ Electric
• ZenMeter (Enzen)
• ZENNER Metering Technology

Methodology