The Commission issued the document "Benchmarking smart metering deployment in the EU-27 with a focus on electricity", jointly drafted by DG ENER and JRC, as COM(2014)356. This report gauges progress in the deployment of intelligent metering in the EU Member States on the basis of economic assessments of long-term costs and benefits (CBAs) of electricity and gas smart metering prepared by Member States and submitted to the Commission in line with Third Energy Package provisions. It also provides summary information on received Member States’ deployment plans and highlights best practices and lessons learned.

Member States are required to ensure the implementation of smart metering under EU energy market legislation in the Third Energy Package. This implementation may be subject to a long-term cost-benefit analysis (CBA). In cases where the CBA is positive, there is a roll-out target of 80% market penetration for electricity by 2020.

This report jointly prepared by the European Commission DG ENER and JRC measures progress on the deployment of smart meters across the EU. To date, Member States have committed to rolling out close to 200 million smart meters for electricity and 45 million for gas by 2020 at a total potential investment of €45 billion. By 2020, it is expected that almost 72% of European consumers will have a smart meter for electricity while 40% will have one for gas.

While cost estimates vary, the cost of a smart metering system averages between €200 and €250 per customer, while delivering benefits per metering point of €160 for gas and €309 for electricity along with, on average, 3% energy savings.

The overall successful roll-out of smart meters across the EU is dependent on criteria largely decided by Member States however. This includes regulatory arrangements, and the extent to which the systems to be deployed will be technically and commercial interoperable, as well as guarantee data privacy and security. There is also no EU-wide consensus yet on the minimum range of operations required by smart meters.