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Gas Smart Meters: Government mandates, incentives and communication technologies drive adoption to over 450 million connections

  • Advanced Meter Reading
  • AMR
  • Advanced Metering Infrastructure
  • AMI
  • Cellular
  • LoRaWAN
  • M-Bus
  • RF Mesh
  • NB-IoT
  • Sigfox
  • Zigbee
  • Gas Meter
  • Smart Energy
  • Smart Grid
  • Utilities
  • Heating
  • Nikita Singh
  • Matt Arnott
This report summarises the Transforma Insights view on the Gas Smart Meter IoT market found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things TAM forecast.

Report summary

This report summarises Transforma Insights’ view on the Gas Smart Meter IoT market found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things TAM forecast. 

The report covers details on the evolution of traditional gas meters to smart gas meters equipped with connectivity for reporting gas consumption without manual reading, as well as other metrics such as pressure measurement and leak detection. The total number of Gas Smart Meters will grow from 156 million in 2020 to 456 million by the end of 2030, with a CAGR of 11%. 

Mostly concentrated in China, North America, and Europe, the smart gas meter market is significantly regulated, often by the local government or the energy provider. Deployments of smart gas meters are typically triggered by the local utility provider and are deployed only in countries that use gas pipelines. The majority of South East Asian countries and Africa still have a low number of smart gas meter installations due to a lack of piped natural gas (PNG) and a preference for gas cylinders. 

The report also describes the barriers to growth such as the increasing cost of natural gas, a focus on renewable energy sources, including hydrogen gas and biogas, as well as the Russia and Ukraine war, its consequent sanctions, and the resulting impact on natural gas use in European countries.

The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used and revenue. 

A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector breakdowns and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.

Key market developments in Gas Smart Meters Application Group

The report examines key factors that are influencing the development of the market, including:

Key drivers: reducing consumption, meter reading and leak detection

This section of the report begins with a basic definition and features of traditional gas meters (such as requiring manual reading for billing) and gas smart meters (such as being connected to indoor smart devices for communicating real-time gas consumption data to their users).

It then discusses how a combination of smart metering technology and upstream smart grid deployments can effectively deal with the two major causes of gas-related accidents: gas pipeline pressure and faulty sensor operations.

Demand and regulation varies significantly between countries

This section primarily focuses on the limitations of gas smart meters (like they can only be installed in countries that use gas pipes to supply gas to both residential and commercial users). It then talks about the governments of various countries that are driving the deployment of gas smart meters and the benefits of such deployments. For instance, the deployment of these meters in Europe has significantly improved revenue collection.

Energy security will be a further driver of adoption

This section discusses the impact on gas smart meters from the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia (which has led to a gas crisis in Europe due to sanctions imposed on Russia), the Covid-19 pandemic (which resulted in severe breakdown of supply chains), the impact of government incentives (such as the one that encourages homeowners to adopt heat pumps in the UK to reduce gas consumption), and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting nuclear disaster at Fukushima.

A shift to cleaner gas alternatives will trigger further meter deployments

This section considers the increasing dependence on renewable and low-carbon gases in the future, such as biogas, biomethane, and hydrogen (primarily owing to the aim of reducing carbon emissions) and discusses how this shift will impact the deployment of gas smart meters.

Cost-benefit analyses produce mixed results

This section focuses on the CBAs (cost-benefit analyses) that have been conducted in Europe for gas smart metering and their results. It talks about the countries that have reported positive results (like the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, and others) as well as those that have reported negative outcomes (such as Belgium, Portugal, Spain, and others) and how this situation may change in future with rising gas prices and fall in the system costs.

Connectivity technologies

This section of the report discusses the connectivity technologies these meters use (like LPWA technologies). In a tabular format, it then charts the technologies used across major geographies like North America, Latin America, China, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia & Central Asia, India, and MENA.

Some examples of relevant IoT deployments in the industry have also been included in the report. For instance, China Telecom and Shenzhen Gas have collaborated to install 40,000km of new pipeline and provide smart gas meters to 470 million gas connections. Apart from achieving a 100% success rate in meter reading and accuracy during the trial, they improved power consumption, data security, and interoperability.

Key vendors for Gas Smart Meters

The key vendors section lists some of the main providers of products and services related to the market such as Landis + Gyr, Itron, Elster Group, Aptor Group, Diehl Metering, EDMI, Sensus, Zenner, and Aclara. The report provides profiles of the various vendors including aspects most relevant to this Application Group, such as product offerings, pricing, financial results, and technology.

Market forecasts for Gas Smart Meters

In the market forecasts section, we provide a summary of the forecasts from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database:

Devices

The report charts the growth in the number of devices which will grow from 156 million in 2020 to 456 million in 2032.

Transforma Insights forecasts are compiled on a country-by-country basis. This report includes a regional summary, showing splits between Australasia, Greater China, North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, MENA, Russia & Central Asia, South East Asia, South Korea, India & South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Technologies

Transforma Insights’ IoT forecasts include splits between the various connectivity technologies as follows: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G mMTC, 5G non-mMTC, LPWA (non-mMTC), Satellite, Short Range, and Other.

This section discusses which technologies will be used in the gas smart meters application group.

Revenue

This part of the report discusses the market growth in terms of revenue (module revenue, service wrap revenue, and VAC revenue). Transforma Insights estimates that the revenue in the Gas Smart Meters Application Group will grow at a CAGR of 14%.

  • Aclara
  • Apator Group
  • Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente (AEEGSI)
  • British Gas
  • China Telecom
  • Con Edison
  • Consumer Energy
  • Dalim
  • Diehl Metering
  • EDF
  • EDMI
  • Energie Thun
  • Enexis Netbeheer
  • Groupement d’intérêt économique
  • Honeywell- Elster Group
  • International Renewable Energy Agency
  • Itron
  • Korea Smart Metering Forum
  • Korea Telecom
  • Kyocera Communication Systems
  • Landis+Gyr
  • NICIGAS
  • Nicor Gas
  • Sensus
  • Shenzhen Gas
  • Sony
  • SORACOM
  • Spire
  • Støvring Kraftvarmeværk AMBA.
  • Tokyo Gas
  • Unabiz
  • Zenner
  • Hyperconnectivity
  • Internet of Things
    • Electricity, Gas, Steam & A/C