Telemetry of gas meters: an opportunity for the digitalization and sustainability of the sector

September 12, 2024

Most of the natural gas meters currently installed are analog meters, but the intention is to replace them with smart meters, as was once the case with electric meters or, at the moment, with water meters.

The use case for smart meters for gas meters is in fact very similar to that of water meters, to a greater degree than for electric meters, due to the need to power the meters using batteries and a requirement for minimum cost in communications to extend their autonomy and increase their useful life.

✅ There are currently millions of natural gas meters to be replaced in the next few years, mainly belonging to domestic customers (connected to networks of less than 4 bar and with a consumption of 50,000 kWh/year or less).

Regulatory context of natural gas in the EU

The natural gas sector in most countries is a highly regulated sector. Various actors, both public and private, are in charge of controlling the activity along the entire natural gas supply value chain: import and supply, regasification, transportation, distribution, and selling.

Regasification, transportation, and distribution activities are regulated within the value chain, while the rest of the activities are deregulated.

◾ Regarding regulation, the ICT/155/2020 order establishes a maximum useful life of gas meters of 20 years, with the obligation to change or renew these meters before 2028, although an extension to 2033 has recently been requested.

We are currently awaiting the publication of the applicable regulations that will define the technical conditions for smart meters deployment and set the timelines needed to properly plan for this renewal.

It is essential to develop an industrial plan among all the stakeholders involved (gas distributors, meter manufacturers, telecommunications companies, and digital service providers) to ensure the success of this digital transformation within the sector.

The smart metering market in Europe

The gas meter fleet is very old. According to information provided by gas distributors, about 72% of the equipment that measures natural gas consumption has exceeded or is about to exceed its useful life.

It is worth noting that the UK and Italy are the largest markets, with approximately 25 million customers each, followed by Germany with 15 million customers.

In terms of the level of maturity of these markets, these countries have already undertaken the renewal of the meter fleet earlier using smart meters with integrated connectivity.

NB-IoT is the dominant connectivity for these meters, a revolutionary technology for meeting IoT needs.

In these countries, the main communication technologies deployed have been RF, 2G/3G and NB-IoT, with the latter finally gaining the upper hand over the others, according to a recent report by Berg Insights.

Telemedida de contadores en América Latina

Berg Insight's report on smart metering in Latin America examines recent developments in remote meter reading across countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.

This analysis highlights the growth in smart meters deployment and forecasts a continued increase in the coming years, driven by the adoption of IoT connectivity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance efficiency and energy resource management.

Benefits of natural gas smart metering

In order to analyze the cost-benefit of replacing analog meters with smart meters, the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) published a report in December 2021 that was favorable to replace equipment that exceeds its useful life.

According to the report, the change of meters will bring multiple advantages and positive benefits for customers, while encouraging an increasingly active participation of the consumer in the system, including:

Prevent and combat fraud and achieve greater privacy and security of readings (48% of the devices are located inside homes), the use of digital meters will put an end to estimated readings (which involves the travel of a technician) for actual readings, improving the agility in the operation of the natural gas network.
Reduction in consumption (quantified at 1.83%), thanks to the change in consumer habits as they will be able to access better information on their gas consumption, provided that the necessary measures are put in place so that they are able to use this information.
The use of digital meters, which can be connected to other metering devices, will also enable the range of commercial offers to be expanded, with tariffs that include time discriminating tariffs. Smart meters will also facilitate the introduction of renewable gases into gas networks for both quantity and quality reasons.

The massive deployment of smart gas meters in the residential sector implies a breakthrough and transformation of the natural gas sector, as it modernizes the operation of the current distribution network and the services offered to customers, positively impacting the following dimensions:

Security: automatic closure of the meter's internal valve upon detection of gas leaks or pressure drop in the network.
Detection of non-technical losses: monitoring of consumption and detection of irregularities (e.g. fraud) in consumption through more accurate energy balances.
Efficiency: allowing the optimization of consumption and customer operations, through switching or automatic billing.

Telefónica Tech's Smart metering for gas

Telefónica Tech's mission, among others, is to support customers in their digital transformation, with a long-term vision, from pre-sales and throughout the life cycle of the projects.

We do this for different focus sectors and especially in the gas sector, which is strategic for Telefónica and where our commitment is long term. In this sense, we adapt to the time of our customers in these transformation processes.

Our value proposition integrates the latest technology and our own know-how and that of an important ecosystem of partners, all of them examples in their field of activity.

✅ One of the main assets we have in Telefónica is our laboratory The ThinX, specialized in IoT and big data solutions, where we work at device, connectivity, and platform level, ensuring that the solutions are robust, secure, and scalable.

At The ThinX we have tools and processes to work from the design of the solutions, deployment and monitoring of the projects.

Connected gas meters with integrated NB-IoT communication

Telefónica Tech entered the water sector a few years ago through NB-IoT connectivity, a key enabler for the massive deployment of sensor technology in the water cycle. This knowledge is what we want to transfer to the gas sector.

As with water, in the case of smart metering in the gas sector, bandwidth, speed and latency are not the priorities. The high concentration of the devices, their installation in hard-to-reach locations or the battery life and the need to extend their service life must be taken into account.

As its name suggests, the NB-IoT network is a revolution in meeting all these needs of the IoT world and is also responsible for transferring the data captured or generated by the devices to cloud platforms, where they are managed and processed to take advantage of the full potential of big data.

The knowledge extracted from all this data allows the generation of analytical models with great benefits for both citizens and distribution companies (detection of consumption patterns and trends, reduction of leaks and/or fraud, predictive maintenance, more accurate energy balances, improved forecasting and demand management with optimization of assets and reduction of energy consumption, etc.).

✅ NB-IoT is therefore key to ensure a successful deployment in the remote management of gas meters.

Conclusion

We can therefore affirm that the remote management of gas meters with NB IoT is an innovative and efficient solution that facilitates the energy transition and the digitalization of the sector.

At Telefónica Tech we support gas distributors in this process, offering a comprehensive service, including meters, connectivity and management platforms, as well as advanced data analysis. This improves the quality of service, increases security and savings, and contributes to environmental protection.