Smart Gas Meter Revenue Will Surpass $1.5 Billion Annually by 2020

As in the electricity meter market, gas meters for residential and commercial locations are shifting to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology, which enables remote, automated interval meter reads as well as offering command and control features, increased accuracy, and the potential for enhanced energy use management. According to a recent report from Navigant Research, annual revenue from smart gas meters will grow from $258 million in 2013 to more than $1.5 billion in 2020.

“Meters with one-way communications capabilities are now giving way to two-way devices that will open up a host of new benefits and efficiencies for both gas utilities and their customers.”

“The transition to the latest gas modules connected to AMI networks is just getting started,” says Neil Strother, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. “Meters with one-way communications capabilities are now giving way to two-way devices that will open up a host of new benefits and efficiencies for both gas utilities and their customers.”

While the deployment of smart gas meters shares some characteristics with the utilization of smart electricity meters, there are significant differences in the terminology and the fundamental assumptions applied to the two markets, according to the report.

Unlike electric utilities, gas utility managers can store their product and do not face the same load balancing challenges. In addition, time-of-use billing is not a priority for gas consumption, since the price does not shift dramatically during the course of a day as it does for electricity.

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