At the end of 2021, the EU + UK region had nearly 163 million smart electricity meters
More than 56% of the electricity customers in European Union and the United Kingdom (the so-called EU27+3) had a smart meter at the end of 2022, according to a report by Swedish IoT consultancy firm Berg Insight.
According to the European consultancy, the market is set for “robust” growth in the coming years, with a total of 106 million smart electricity meters forecasted to be deployed across the region during 2022–2027.
At the end of 2021, the EU27+3 region had nearly 163 million smart electricity meters, corresponding to a penetration rate of 53%. Berg Insight forecasts that the smart electricity meters market in the region will expand at compound annual growth rate of 5.8% until 2027, when the installed base of smart electricity meters is expected to reach a penetration rate of 74%, driven by large rollouts in the U.K., Poland and eventually also Germany and Greece, in combination with nationwide rollouts in several small- and mid-sized countries.
The European smart gas metering market will meanwhile increase its installed base of devices from 46 million units in 2021 to 76 million units in 2027, according to the report.
The consultancy firm highlighted that the composition of annual smart electricity shipment volumes is expected to change significantly over the coming years as rollouts in many markets in Western and Northern Europe are now either well-advanced or largely completed. An ongoing trend that is spreading across Europe is second-generation smart metering deployments in countries such as Italy, the Nordics, Spain and the Netherlands.
“In fact, replacements of first-generation smart metering equipment are expected to account for nearly a third of the cumulative device shipments until 2027,” said Mattias Carlsson, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight. In terms of first-generation projects, the 10 fastest growing market during 2022–2027 will meanwhile all be in Central Eastern and Southeastern Europe – a trend that confirms that focus is shifting away from Western European markets that historically have been the center of attention of the European smart metering market throughout the past decade.
Another ongoing trend is the change related to communications technologies being used for data exchange with the utility back office. Berg Insight estimates that standalone wireless connectivity options will grow their annual share of smart electricity meter shipment volumes from 33% in 2021 to 57% in 2027. “Most of the growth will be attributable to the rise of 3GPP-based LPWA connectivity services, which have become available in most European markets in the past couple of years. Annual European shipments of NB-IoT and LTE-M smart electricity meters are forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 18% during 2021–2027, from 1.4 million units in 2021 to 3.7 million in 2027,” Carlsson added.
