Smart Meters: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Electricity - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 108

The total number of installed smart meters has been steadily increasing around the
world, with North America leading the way with the highest overall penetration percentage
(that is, the percentage of total electricity meters that are smart meters). By the end of 2013
it seems that at least 25 percent of all electricity meters in the United States and 22 percent
in Europe were smart meters (Berg Insight 2013 ) . There is variation in estimates for overall
smart meter penetration rates per country because different estimates draw from different
data sets and/or have different definitions of what constitutes a smart meter.

In the United States, a total of 46 million smart meters had been installed by July 2013,
and65millionsmartmetersareestimatedtobeinstallednationwideby2015(FERC 2013 ) .
Some states, such as Texas and Maine, have high levels of smart meter deployment, while
others such as Montana and Louisiana have minimal penetration ( Figure 5.1 ) . The regional
variation in smart meter deployment reflects the heterogeneity of the United States' energy
landscape, and the reluctance of some Public Utilities Commissions (PUC) or utilities to
pursue smart meter projects.

Figure 5.1. Estimates of smart meter penetration by the end of 2014 . Source: Greentech
Media 2014

Table 5.1 Smart meter rollout plans in European countries. Source: Eurelectric

2013