Analyst Insight: The Shifting Landscape of Meter Communications

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems are made up of smart meters with two‐way communications capabilities that can be remotely read in an automated fashion. Meter reads may occur every day or even many times per day. The data from the meter is then transported to the utility’s network operations center (NOC), either directly via a cellular connection or via a concentrator or collector that then sends the aggregated data back to the NOC over a wide area network (WAN). Both processes are known as data backhaul. The data is then fed into the utility’s IT systems, such as meter data management (MDM) and customer information systems, or outage management systems for billing purposes, outage monitoring, and analytics functions.

Communications mirror the market for smart meters in many ways, with most major providers offering embedded communications. It is not uncommon, however, for utilities to have technology procurements through separate vendors. Key communications trends are helping to shape this evolving and complex market.

This Guidehouse Insights report provides a comprehensive resource for announced AMI (smart meter) projects and associated vendors. This report offers information regarding smart electric meter deployments announced through 1Q 2021, including estimates for installed smart meters. Information is based on published announcements from vendors, utilities, news agencies, and public filings, among other sources.