Smart meter vs. traditional meter: the key to digitalise the Utilities

The coming years will be decisive for water distributors. After the steps forward taken by the Utilities in the world of gas and electricity, strong signals were sent out for the digitisation of water networks and, above all, of measurement processes in order to protect water resources and improve service quality: to achieve these goals, it is essential to have advanced control systems that allow the monitoring not only of the main nodes, but also of sensitive points in the network, through the measurement and acquisition of flow rates, operating pressures and water quality parameters.

Already in several countries, the performance indicators and deployment of technologies for metering called for an increasingly automated and intelligent management of metering and provided network operators with guidelines to approach it under the best conditions. Environmental requirements and the ever-increasing need for digitalisation, therefore, are the main levers driving the Authority to steer the water sector in this direction as well. In this context, the role of smart metering, whose core features enable the remote management of almost all activities related to smart meters and metering, is crucial.

What are the real benefits of smart meters? What is the real upgrade over traditional meters? Here we look at some fundamental differences.