Norway says it has completed its smart meter journey as 99% of Norwegians now have a smart meter.

The planning of modern smart meters in Norway began in the early 2020s, with 2019 being the year when energy regulator NVE made it a legal requirement for every grid company. Three and a half years later, almost 99% of all metering points in the low-distribution grid have a smart meter.

“We are now in a stable operating phase in which we are harvesting the big gains of the investment,” said Torfinn Jonassen, sectional manager at NVE.

Smart meters give a more precise measurement of electricity throughout the grid. They also digitise and streamline the process of handling metering data across the actors in the power market. Furthermore, they provide the grid companies with detailed information about the state of the grid closest to the customers. This enables more efficient operation of the power grid, lowers the cost of handling metering data and ensures a more accurate settlement for customers.

The smart meters installed in Norway automatically transmit hourly consumption values to the grid company. The meters can register consumption down to 15-minute intervals, transmit real-time values to customers and connect to other types of meters.

The Norwegian datahub for metering values, Elhub, was implemented together with the smart meters in 2019. In cooperation, they maintain a highly digitised chain that reduces the overall cost of managing metering data in Norway.

As the introduction of smart meters now is deemed to be completed, NVE is directing its focus towards management of the installed smart meters to maintain the high benefits of the implementation.

“It will be important for the grid companies to have a good and secure operation,” said Jonassen. “This includes prioritising corrections when errors occur, ongoing bug-fixes and other improvements.”

The functional requirements for the Norwegian smart meters were worked out over ten years ago. With the rollout finished, and a rapid development in technology, NVE will begin working on new functional requirements that will lay the foundation for the next generation of smart meters in Norway.