Middle East & Africa Smart Meters Market - Growth, Trends, Forecasts (2020 - 2025)

The smart meters market had approximately 2,041.9 thousand units shipped across the Middle East & Africa in 2019, and the number is estimated to reach 6,047.8 thousand units by 2025, registering a CAGR of 20.4% during the period, 2020-2025. With rapid economic and population growth resulting in higher energy demand, the need for energy management is substantial in the Middle East & African region.

- Smart metering solutions include meters or modules, with communication capabilities (either unidirectional or bidirectional), embedded within the meter or attached to the meter.
- Due to the basic need to address increasing energy consumption, smart meters have witnessed an increase in their adoption. These meters can enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system employed by the utilities. This has resulted in several ongoing projects turning to smart meters for enabling efficient management and utilization of gas, water, and electricity resources.
- The Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are expected to lead the regional market, owing to the improving economies and increasing incorporation of technology. The increasing per capita consumption of electricity is pushing the need for smart meters. However, the absence of clear governmental policy is dissuading investments in this sector.
- The region is also witnessing major international players entering the market through various partnerships or mergers and acquisitions to increase their global presence and gain a stronghold in a burgeoning markets, like Saudi Arabia.
- The recent COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown restrictions across the region had impacted the overall rollout of smart meters in the region. The COVID-19 pandemic has halted several operations across the industries. As a result, the shipments and installations of smart meters also witnessed a downfall.

Key Market Trends
Commercial Sector to Hold Significant Share

- The commercial infrastructure in smart metering includes hospitals, offices, schools, retailers, and restaurants, among others. The real benefit for the commercial users is that they can keep a closer eye on the volume used, therefore, lowering or streamlining the amount spent on a daily basis. Additionally, features, like real-time monitoring with analysis can offer the small business in the region with the ability to address any wastage.
- The water shortage in schools in South Africa has led to the high adoption of smart water meters. In December 2017, in South Africa, schools faced a massive water shortage, which, in turn, compelled organizations to integrate smart water meters, to monitor and reduce the unnecessary consumption of water.
- The growing infrastructure development in the region is further expected to drive the market for smart meters and attract market vendors to target a wide range of commercial customers. For instance, Steamaco rolled out 20,000 meters in West Africa, from containerized solar mini-grids in Mali to dense shopping markets in northern Nigeria.
- In August 2020, The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, attributed inaccurate billing of consumers to poor installation of prepaid meters in Nigeria. The Commission, which identified inadequate training of installers as an additional factor, has formed new guidelines for the certification of Energy Meter Installers in the nation.
- In July 2019, thousands of energy-intensive commercial units in Tehran, Iran, got equipped with smart electricity meters in the 2nd phase of the National Smart Metering Program. Further, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Electricity, Iran, installed 41,000 new metering units across Erbil’s capital, in three months, from August 2019 to October 2019, as a part of energy-efficiency efforts. The Ministry stated that it was the only way to control the consumption of electricity.

Supportive Government Initiatives and Regulations Driving the Market

- The countries in the region carry multiple government activities to support the installation of smart meters in the residential sector. For instance, the plan for large-scale smart metering implementation, supporting Saudi Electric Company’s (SEC) goal for improving energy efficiency, has been set in motion. With the growing number of metering points, especially in the residential sector, Saudi Arabia aims to install around 12 million smart meters across the Kingdom by 2025.
- Supportive government initiatives and regulations are vital factors to be considered in the rollout of smart meters in many markets. Increasing government support by the government in various nations, coupled with significant investments, is expected to boost the rollout of smart meters across the region.
- For example, in line with the current strategy for the oil and gas sector in the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) formalized its cooperation with the special purpose company (SPC) on the licensing of oil and gas activities. This eliminates the need to establish a presence onshore with the Department of Economic Development.
- The Government of Egypt is in talks with Huawei to discuss Egypt’s future plans to transition to a smart electricity grid. The government is also in discussion with Sweden to exchange knowledge and expertise on smart grids. This will attract market vendors to make significant investments in the region.
- South Africa’s Smart Grid Vision 2030 aims to transform the electricity landscape in the region. It will upgrade the aging electricity infrastructure by installation of smart meters and integration of power grid, telecom systems and information infrastructure. This would lead to popularity of smart grid data analytics solutions.
- In markets where there is no smart meter rollout or supportive legislation, utilities are still prepared to install smart meters in areas of their distribution networks, where losses are high. Further, low electricity prices make it unattractive for major utilities to deploy smart meters; yet to prevent simple theft, the players are preparing themselves to install meters in households that are assessed as having the highest rates of electricity loss.
- Further the Government policies to encourage infrastructural dvelopment plays a key role in increasing the demand of smart meters in both commercial and residential space.

Competitive Landscape
With only a few domestic companies in the Middle East & African region, the global companies with significant supplier/distribution channels and subsidiaries in the region constitute the competitive landscape of the Middle East & African smart meters market. Domestic technology companies are involving in strategic partnerships with global smart meter companies, in order to benefit from the technical expertise and increase the domestic presence. This, in turn, is increasing the chances for more contracts from the regional government. Some examples of strategic partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions in the Middle East & African smart meters market are:
- Sep 2020 - Iskraemeco announced the signing of Il Monte GalalaAin El Sokhna’s contract with Tatweer Misrfor Smart Metering Solution for 8000 electricity and water smart meters. Tatweer Misr is one of Egypt’s leading real estate developers. As a part of the contract, the company will install and maintain Il Monte Galalawith 8000 smart electricity and water meters, in addition to a head-end software system SEP2W.
- Jan 2020 - Landis+Gyr partnered with WWZ AG, supplier of energy, telecommunications, and water to the population and businesses in the Swiss canton of Zug, to supply the technology for the first wave smart meter rollout. The scope includes cutting-edge meters as well as the requisite communication technology and a meter data processing service, which are implemented in cooperation with a third-party provider.

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