According to a new report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, yearly shipments of smart energy meters in Europe will reach a record level of 31.3 million units in 2018. Smart electricity meter shipments grew 16% compared to the previous year to 22.2 million units. At the same time, smart gas meter shipments increased 9% to 9.1 million units. Growth in both segments will be sustained into 2019 and 2020, driven by ongoing large-scale rollouts in multiple countries.
“The past year was another positive one for the adoption of smart meters in Europe”, says Tobias Ryberg, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight. “Deployments of smart electricity and gas meters ramped up to volume in France. Italy continued with the installation of smart gas meters in parallel to the rollout of second-generation smart electricity meters. Spain and Norway completed their nationwide rollouts, while Lithuania became the latest country to announce one”.
The UK and Benelux were other regions with significant developments. While still behind the official timetable, the UK smart meter rollout continued in 2018, with the last pieces of technical framework finally coming into place at the end of the year. Belgium followed the Netherlands in adopting smart meters, with the launch of a large-scale project in Flanders. Germany however only made little progress with the partial rollout to larger customers. Adoption is still held back by the lack of certified smart meter data gateways. In the first wave, Germany is looking to equip approximately 5.5 million customers using more than 6,000 kWh per year or feeding solar power into the grid with smart meters.