The use of smart meters around the world is continuing to ramp up.

By 2030, the global smart meters market should reach $20 billion in revenue, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 4.9% from $13.1 billion in 2019, according to the report, Global Smart Meters Market Forecast to 2030, produced by the Indian firm Prescient & Strategic Intelligence Private Limited.

“The market is growing due to the rising focus on smart grids, rising awareness among people regarding energy conservation, and surging focus of governments on replacing conventional meters with smart meters,” the authors wrote.

The Asia-Pacific region has been dominating the smart meters market over the past six years and should continue to grow at the fastest pace over other regions, as the major nations within the Asia-Pacific region are widely investing in the deployment of smart meters.

“Within the region, China has been leading the regional domain, owing to the fact that the country is investing heavily in smart meter infrastructure and smart grid projects,” the authors wrote. “The increasing government initiatives are projected to drive the regional market.”

The market for smart meter software is expected to progress faster than the hardware market, particularly for software solutions that can identify anomalies in utility consumption patterns to make billing more accurate, according to the report. Indeed, the growing deployment of smart meters for accurate billing is a key factor driving the smart meters market.

“The utilization of smart and effective monitoring and control devices is leading to enhanced billing accuracy in the service sector, including in data centers, private offices and government buildings,” the authors wrote. “For example, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited in India observed that states equipped with smart meters showed an average increase of about 25% in billing.”

The two-way communication feature of smart meters that support a bi-directional flow of information is also driving the smart meters market. Such devices are deployed at end-users’ premises for collecting information regarding electricity usage by all appliances and at regular intervals.

“Smart meters make use of [the] local area network for collecting this data, which is then transmitted to the utility center using wide area network,” the authors wrote. “The utility can also send signals, command and information to the device at user’s end if needed.”

Aiding in all of these endeavors are head-end software for data collection, meter data management platforms and software to manage the operations of smart meters.

As for meter type, electric smart meters currently dominate the market share, particularly as more governments around the world encourage the installation of such meters in their respective countries, according to the report. However, water smart meters are expected to log in the highest compound annual growth rate, while the gas smart meter market will grow at a slower rate.