South Africa Smart Meter Market Overview, 2027

"The Smart meter is in its initial phase of installations in South Africa as there is a need to explore planning for effective implementation. Smart meter technology is not only simple to read but also enables flexible tariffs. However, the new technology also brings some challenges while executing effective data collection, communication, and information sharing capabilities. South Africa frequently faces extreme power outages and scheduled power cuts frequently as a result of which every consumer segment is adversely affected. Smart meters reduce the reaction time of power outages and hardware faults. The smart meters enable two-way communication, which is unlike the conventional meters that require physical data collection. The increased adoption of smart meters would also help lower the peak electricity demand and put power in the hands of consumers. The exact load bearings reveal accurate power consumption and enable fair billings. Prepaid smart meters are being largely deployed as they can be recharged at any point of time using online portals. One of the restraining factors is the capital requirement by the municipalities for operations and maintenance of the metering systems. According to the report title “South Africa Smart Meter (Gas, Electricity & Water) Market Overview, 2027”, published by Bonafide Research, the smart meter market in South Africa is expected to grow by over 11.5% during the forecast period ending in 2027. Historically, the smart meter market grew by 73% and is further expected to grow robustly over the next few years. Since South Africa faces acute scheduled power outages and inefficient use of electricity, the electric meters are the first ones to be replaced by AMI technology. Smart electric meters have been replaced to the extent of more than 60% in the country, of which commercial meters installed amount to less than 20%. Commercial meters are expected to be the fastest growing segment in the forecast years at a CAGR of over 12%, while residential users remain the major consumers of electric smart meters. The AMI technology meters are increasingly being replaced by old AMR technology meters rapidly, though at a slow pace compared to some other countries like India. Smart water meters are the next most replaced meters as the country faces water shortages and this will enable the authorities to monitor the consumption regularly, thereby inducing efficient use of the limited resources.

Though industrial smart metering is yet to be developed, like electricity metering, it has advantages over cost allocation, cost discrimination by product, process or department, overload detection and penalty avoidance, energy consumption analysis by sectors or lines or processes, benchmarking and assessing different technologies, quantifying energy savings, electricity quality verification, and customized parameters to measure efficiency. Smart gas meters have a low adoption rate not only in South Africa but globally in most of the countries. However, operational benefits like monitoring of pipelines, real-time data accuracy, and manual readings are expected to bolster the market growth in future years at a steady rate. Smart gas meters would be cost effective with one-time investments with consumers' adjustment to monthly bills and decrease the number of system failures. Another lucrative thing is that the smart gas meter automatically shuts off a valve that allows the gas provider to remotely open or close the flow of gas. The data is transferred through the GSM network and also has the capability to electronically transfer data to suppliers and customers through IoT cloud services. South Africa faces huge water losses on a yearly basis, amounting to Rand 7.2 Billion in spite of the limited water resources. To overcome this scarcity, smart metering is the key to change. Building up smart cities across South Africa is a primary goal of President Ramaphosa’s goals that will further drive smart metering in the country. There are five smart city initiatives on the African continent: Konza Techno City (Kenya), Eko Atlantic (Nigeria), Hope City (Ghana), Vision City (Rwanda), and Waterfall City (South Africa). The Lanseria Smart City, the first new city to be built in a democratic South Africa, is now a reality in the making. Smart cities put people and the environment at the heart of high-tech developments that use data and technology (digital transformation) to drive service delivery and quality-of-life improvements for residents. Flagship smart cities are not always replicable—technologies piloted in new-build projects can’t always be retrofitted to existing infrastructure. Although often associated with wealthy areas, the smart city concept can be applied to lower-income areas to unlock the transformative impact that technology can have on people’s quality of life.

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Manmayi Raval

Research Consultant

Considered in this report • Geography: South Africa • Base year: 2021 • Estimated year: 2022 • Forecast year: 2027 Aspects covered in this report

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• South Africa smart meter market with its value and forecast along with its segments • Various drivers and challenges • On-going trends and developments • Five force models • Top profiled companies • Strategic recommendation By type • Electric • Gas • Water By technology • AMI • AMR By end user • Industrial • Commercial • Residential The approach of the report This report consists of a combined approach of primary as well as secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and listing out the companies that are present in the market. The secondary research consists of third party sources such as press releases, annual report of companies, analyzing the government generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources primary research was conducted by making telephonic interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducted trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this we have started doing primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting consumers in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us we have started verifying the details obtained from secondary sources. Intended audience This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to smart meter industry, government bodies and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry. "