Advanced Metering Technologies Enable Proactive Efficiency for Water and Gas Utilities

While automatic meter reading has been around for several decades, technological advances combined with economic and environmental conditions are increasing interest in smart metering systems. Aging infrastructures, growing or shifting populations, regional water shortages, changing government regulations and economic conditions are causing utilities to look for more efficient and accurate meter reading options, especially offerings that integrate data analytics.

Automatic meter reading (AMR), advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), hybrid AMR/AMI and the newest offering, advanced metering analytics (AMA), are all gaining traction in the water market. They provide more frequent, efficient and accurate meter readings that can be fed into a utility?s database and billing systems. As a result, growth is anticipated for global and North American sales of advanced water meters.
According to a recent study from IMS Research, an independent supplier of market research to the global energy industry, steady increases in the demand for advanced water meters are expected. In 2010, global shipments of smart metering technology totaled an estimated 5.5 million.