Smart electricity meters tipped for steady growth in North America

Over the next five years, the penetration rate for smart meters among electricity customers in the US and Canada is projected to increase from around 60 per cent in 2018 to more than 80 per cent by the end of 2024.
 “North America has long been at the forefront of smart grid technology adoption and a large share of the major utilities in the region are now either fully deployed or in the implementation or planning stages of full-scale rollouts,” said Levi Östling, IoT analyst at Berg Insight and author of the report.
“The market is, however, highly heterogenous in terms of penetration. Some states or provinces remain sceptical towards the business case for advanced metering investments whereas others are soon to begin a second wave of deployments.”
Canada has reached a high penetration of smart meters through ambitious initiatives in its most populous provinces. Continued growth in North America over the next few years will largely be driven by the large investor-owned utilities in the US that are yet to roll out smart meters for their customers.
According to the report, yearly shipments of smart electricity meters in North America will grow ‪from 8.8‬ million units in 2018 to 19.9 million units in 2024. Over the next few years, first-wave deployments by utilities such as Consolidated Edison, Duke Energy, Ameren, Entergy, PSEG, National Grid and Xcel Energy will boost shipments. Second wave deployments will gradually make their way into the shipment numbers at the end of the forecast period.