Is a smart metering boom on the way for Latin America and the Caribbean?

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Customer Management; 21 January 2026; 8190 views

A new report by Berg Insight suggests that the market for smart metering in Latin America and the Caribbean is expected to see massive growth in the coming years.

Berg Insight, an independent industry analyst and consulting firm, providing research, analysis and consulting services to clients in the areas of IoT and digital technologies, reveals that the penetration of smart electricity meters in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 9.7% in 2025.

This is not, it would seem, a strong showing, but the installed base of smart electricity meters is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 22.7% during 2025–2030 to reach a total of 61.3 million units at the end of the forecast period, up from around 22.1 million units in 2025.

The report says that the smart metering market in Latin America and the Caribbean is becoming increasingly active, with a number of utilities across the region still in the early stages of deployment. It say over the next five years, the penetration rate of smart meters in the largest market in the region – Brazil – will increase from 9.2% in 2025 to 30.6% in 2030.

Brazil and Mexico are expected to drive the majority of annual shipment volumes of smart meters, accounting for nearly 70% of shipments throughout the forecast period.

Felix Linderum, Analyst at Berg Insight, suggest that annual meter installations are expected to more than double from 2025 to 2030 but adds: “South America will account for the majority of new installations, with the region expected to grow its share of annual shipment volumes from around 65% in 2025 to 84% by 2030.”

Besides Brazil, it seems, this growth will primarily be driven by countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The study says yearly shipments of smart electricity meters in Latin America and the Caribbean will grow from around 5.2 million units in 2025 to around 11.3 million in 2030. This makes the region one of the fastest-growing smart metering markets worldwide.

Obviously energy efficiency and sustainability are likely to be drivers for this growth, but the report points out that utilities across Latin America and the Caribbean also leverage smart metering to drastically cut down on non-technical losses, which includes theft and billing inefficiencies.

As for equipment provision, apparently Chinese smart meter vendors have made significant inroads into the market in recent years, particularly in South America, while markets in Central America and the Caribbean are mostly occupied by North American and international vendors.

The full report can be accessed at the Berg Insight website.