What Is a Smart Meter?

Smart meters have become an integral part of energy infrastructure. Valued at $1.83 billion in 2021, the global smart gas meter market is expected to reach $2.8 billion in 2027 due to various factors, including regulatory government initiatives, rapid developments in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and increased public awareness.

Smart meters and submeters are used to:

  • Report the amount of energy usage to the tenant or energy provider
  • Track energy consumption over certain time frames
  • Send real-time data directly to the energy supplier
  • Help with accurate billing

In this article, we will explain the key benefits of smart gas meters and submeters.

Smart Gas Meters

A smart meter is a digital device that records energy consumption data of a building and relays the data to a local utility. Smart meters record data on a much more frequent schedule than analog meters.

Key Benefits of Smart Gas Meters

Smart gas meters offer a range of benefits to both property managers and tenants. By offering benefits such as accurate data about energy usage, faster outage detection and promotion of environmental sustainability, smart gas meters are proving to be worth the money.

Let’s take an in-depth look at the benefits of smart gas meters below.

Accuracy in Energy Usage Data and Billing

Estimated bills and manual errors in utility reading may lead to inaccuracies. But property managers can put an end to the practice of estimated bills with the help of smart meters.

Most gas companies configure their gas meters in a way to receive data every 30 minutes to monitor the demand and recognize consumption patterns. Since data collection takes place in real-time, the gas utility company will be better equipped to generate accurate invoices. 

Greater Control Over Energy Usage

Smart gas meters help industrial customers like manufacturing units track their hourly or daily consumption data and recognize if there is any wastage and leakage. For instance, if the facilities team recognizes that there was gas consumption during off-office hours, it can check for leakages and address them quickly. The hourly and daily tracking will provide your facilities teams greater control over energy usage.

Informed Decision-making

Smart meters help both utility companies and their customers make informed decisions about energy usage.

  • For utility companies: Due to the lack of availability of meter data, gas utility companies struggle to accurately forecast spatial demand for gas. They can address this issue by installing smart meters for their customers. A thorough analysis of the historical data provided by smart meters will help utility companies understand the energy usage patterns of customers in a particular geographical location and forecast future usage.  Creating a superior supply chain strategy to provide an uninterrupted gas supply may not be an issue for gas utility companies if future forecasts are accurate.
  • For customers: Smart meters will enable customers to set a notification for peak gas usage; it means the smart meter sends a text message or an email to the concerned department when the gas consumption exceeds the predetermined limit. If the consumption exceeds the threshold continuously, the customer can analyze the reasons for the same and make appropriate decisions such as replacing obsolete machines that consume higher gas than required and conducting an audit trail to identify wastages.

Helps the Environment

The consumption of petroleum and natural gas contributed to about 73% of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020.

Since smart meters enable people to track their gas usage regularly and take appropriate energy-saving initiatives, they play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment.

Save on Energy Usage with Genea Submeter Billing

Submeter billing meters are slowly becoming an integral part of our day-to-day life. Government initiatives such as building smart grids and offering tax incentives and rebates for smart meter installations are encouraging people to install smart energy meters.

Utility companies, commercial real estate properties, educational institutions and retail centers should look at installing IoT smart metering solutions and integrating them with submeter reading and billing software like Genea for the following reasons:

  1. It leaves no room for manual errors in readings and ensures accurate billing for tenants.
  2. It collects the meter reading data every 15 minutes to enable utility companies and their customers to have a greater understanding of energy use.
  3. It provides detailed information about hour-to-hour energy consumption for tenants and enables them to make informed decisions to increase energy efficiency.
  4. Forecasting for utility companies becomes easier as the software accurately calculates future energy demand by analyzing past consumption records.

Schedule a demo to learn the functionality of Genea Submeter Billing and how it collects your smart energy meter readings automatically.