96.3 Million European Households To Have Smart Meters By 2014, Study Says

The deployed base of smart electricity meters in European households is slated to grow at an annual compounded rate of 16.2 percent between 2008 and 2014 to touch 96.3 million, according to a recently released research report from market analysis firm Berg Insight.

This robust growth rate projected is also in line with the target set for all EU households to convert to smart meters at 80 percent. The latest range of smart meters, enable consumers to get comprehensive information regarding their electricity usage thereby letting them administer their energy costs in an improved manner and to generate a significant extent of financial savings in terms of energy cost.

The smart meters was first launched in Italy and it has found widespread acceptance in its Nordic neighbors, especially with Sweden deeming these meters compulsory from July 2009. This move by Sweden sparked off a trend for the remaining countries in Europe. Currently, Sweden has emerged as the first nation in the world to ensure a 100 percent deployment of smart meters in its households. The report estimates that in the forthcoming period, countries like Italy, Finland, Ireland and Norway could follow suit and achieve the 100 percent milestone, with other countries like France, Spain and UK reaching there in at least the next 10 years or so,

A senior analyst at Berg Insight, Tobias Ryberg, also suggests that the reason why some countries are lagging behind the pace of smart meter deployment is probably due to some diffidence from some key stakeholders. He quotes the example of Netherlands where the government postponed the mass deployment of smart meters post a controversial debate as to the risk involved in overriding privacy by tracking power consumption using smart meters and in Germany, where again the government has backed off from a full scale implementation, because of its surveillance perception. He further elaborates, “The privacy threat from smart meters is grossly exaggerated. They are opposed because they represent a new technology for collecting information in a time when large groups of people are afraid of the consequences of living in an information based society. Indeed the energy industry has a major responsibility in protecting the privacy of its customers, but first and foremost it must work to create a sustainable energy system in which smart meters are an essential component."