The number of smart meters is increasing in Europe, but the levels and methods of data usage vary greatly from country to country. While Spain, for instance, is leading by example, in many other countries smart metering has not yet begun, or the data remains underutilised. EN-TRACK partners ep group, EnEffect, ICAEN and Smart Innovation Norway collaborated on an article comparing have compared the residential and non-domestic smart meter rollouts in the UK, Spain and Bulgaria, and set out recommendations based on the learnings of this comparison and industry workshops.

A successful smart meter rollout starts by developing an understanding of the structure of each nation’s data legislation and energy market. To use the data effectively, policies and systems must be adapted, and the public must be provided with comprehensive information. Factors such as political willingness, market readiness, metering infrastructure, and the level of digitalisation create the conditions for the deployment of smart meters and data utilisation.

In order to explore the conditions that support smart metering, we compared three European countries in different stages of implementing smart meters in buildings to identify factors driving success, and to make recommendations that support successful rollouts in the future.