Frequently Asked Questions
How many smart meters are installed in the U.S. and who has them?
In 2010,1 663 U.S. electric utilities had 20,334,525 advanced ("smart") metering infrastructure (AMI) installations. About 76% were installed by Investor Owned utilities and about 90% were residential customer installations.
Number of AMI Installations by Customer Type
| Type & Number of Utilities with AMI | Residential | Commercial | Industrial | Transportation | Total | |
| Investor Owned | 108 | 13,880,141 | 1,452,929 | 24,728 | 36 | 15,357,834 |
| Cooperative | 342 | 3,416,336 | 323,082 | 27,542 | 0 | 3,766,960 |
| Municipal | 184 | 278,198 | 44,757 | 2,471 | 0 | 325,426 |
| Public & State | 29 | 795,233 | 84,215 | 4,826 | 31 | 884,305 |
| Totals | 663 | 18,369,908 | 1,904,983 | 59,567 | 67 | 20,334,525 |
Advanced metering infrastructure includes meters that measure and record electricity usage at a minimum of hourly intervals and provide the data to both the utility and the utility customer at least once daily. They range from basic hourly interval meters to real-time meters with built-in two-way communication capable of recording and transmitting instantaneous data.
EIA does not have data on natural gas or water meters.
Learn more:
State Policies Drive Growth in Smart Meter Use
Smart Grid Legislative and Regulatory Policies and Case Studies
Detailed data on Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) installations for individual utilities in File 8 of the EIA-861 database files.
Other information on smart meter deployments funded by the Smart Grid Investment Grant program under the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009.
1 Year for which most recent data is available.
Last updated: September 20, 2012
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