Smart meter
An electronic meter that records consumption in short intervals and communicates the data remotely to suppliers and network operators.
A smart meter measures electricity (and often gas) consumption at intervals of typically 15 to 60 minutes and transmits readings through cellular, radio mesh or power-line communication. Unlike older automated meter reading, it supports two-way communication: remote reading, tariff updates, connect/disconnect and outage notification.
Smart meters underpin:
- Time-of-use and dynamic tariffs that pass wholesale price variation to consumers.
- Accurate billing without estimated readings.
- Demand response and net metering or export settlement for rooftop solar.
- Network visibility for distribution operators, including voltage and loss monitoring.
Rollout status varies: Italy completed its first-generation rollout in the 2000s and moved to second-generation meters; Spain, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia and France (Linky, about 35 million meters) are near full coverage. The EU targeted 80% coverage where cost-benefit analysis was positive; Germany lagged and accelerated rollout under a 2023 law. The UK had about 65 to 70% smart or advanced meters by 2025. In the US, roughly 75% of electricity customers had advanced meters by 2023 (EIA).
EU cost-benefit studies (JRC) estimated average costs around 200 to 250 EUR per metering point, with benefits from energy savings of roughly 2 to 3% and operational efficiencies. Data privacy and cybersecurity rules govern how interval data are used.
Related terms
All terms →- Demand response
Changes in electricity consumption by end users, in response to price signals or operator requests, to balance the grid.
- Net metering
A billing arrangement in which electricity exported by a small generator, usually rooftop solar, offsets imports at the retail rate over a billing period.
- Self-consumption
The share of on-site generation, typically rooftop solar, that is used directly by the producer rather than exported to the grid.
- Virtual power plant (VPP)
A software platform that aggregates many distributed resources, such as batteries, EVs, heat pumps and rooftop solar, and operates them as a single dispatchable unit.
- Kilowatt-hour (kWh)
A unit of energy equal to one kilowatt of power sustained for one hour, or 3.6 megajoules; the standard billing unit for electricity.