How many smart meters are there in the US?
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing — still isn’t, in fact — but the transition to smart electricity meters in the US is moving steadily forward.
According to the most recent tally by the Institute for Electric Efficiency (IEE), nearly one in every three households in the US now has a smart meter. That means some 36 million smart meters have now been deployed across the country.
By 2015, the IEE projects, that number will rise to 65 million.
Before 2012 runs out, a total of 22 utilities in 16 states are expected to have finished rolling out smart meters to their entire customer base: 29 million people in all. Energy companies in the lead include:
- Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) — Just passed the 9-million-meter milestone in California;
- Southern Company – Almost 4 million smart meters across Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi;
- Southern California Edison – More than 3.9 million smart meters in California, with full deployment of 5.3 million meters expected to be complete by the end of 2012;
- NextEra Energy – Three million smart meters, out of a total of 4.4 million set to be rolled out in Florida;
- Oncor – More than 2.5 million smart meters across Texas, with full deployment of 3.4 million expected by the end of 2012;
- CenterPoint Energy – Nearly 2.2 million smart meters (close to full deployment) across Texas;
- State program/Pennsylvania – More than 1.4 million smart meters, with a total of 6 million to eventually be deployed;
- PPL – Completed rollout of 1.4 million smart meters across its service area in Pennsylvania;
- San Diego Gas & Electric – Close to 1.4 million smart meters in California; and
- Portland General Electric – Full deployment of 816,000 smart meters across Oregon completed in 2010.
