Growing demand for smart meters and aggressive adoption in states such as Texas and California over the last five years is fueling a surge in smart-meter manufacturing, which is now a $1.8 billion industry, business-intelligence publisher IBISWorld Inc. says.
Realizing the benefit of smart meters, the federal government has provided $3.4 billion to jump-start grid modernization. In 2010, fewer than 20 million smart meters were reported in the United States; by mid-2014, estimates had grown to 50 million.
Industry revenue is expected to grow 16.9 percent annually to $3.9 billion in 2020, powered by new housing construction, increasing electricity consumption, and more states and regions adopting smart-grid utilities.
“We forecast that smart-meter-adoption rates will increase by nearly half in the next five years,” IBISWorld analyst Darryle Ulama said. “It’s evident that grid modernization is quickly becoming the industry standard in energy.”