Europe making ‘billion-euro’ smart meter bets in the dark, analysis finds
BERLIN, GERMANY, November 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- European governments are committing billions to the future of their smart meter networks without the reliable data needed to fully compare costs and risks, according to new analysis.
The study, from Finnish wireless networking company Wirepas, finds that EU-mandated targets, network sunsets and rising electrification demands are accelerating the push for policymakers to lock in their next-generation connectivity decisions; decisions that will shape networks for 15 years or more.
Yet the data to make these decisions is scattered, patchy or missing. Either it’s not collected, it sits with third parties, or the gap is too wide to close because no single body in Europe is responsible for publishing it. This means governments across the continent are making every effort to develop the best, most informed decisions possible with their hands tied.
The analysis was carried out to establish the true state of smart meter connectivity across Europe. Wirepas looked at publicly available and official information, searching for which technologies each country uses, what they cost over their lifetime and how exposed they are to switch-off, before rating each market’s connectivity on a scale from strong to challenged.
The findings come as the European Commission pushes for electricity to account for 46 per cent of the bloc’s final energy consumption by 2040, an ambition expected to require some €1.2 trillion of grid investment.
The analysis uncovered that:
- No data source gives an adequate Europe-wide view or comparison
- This means the level and amount of data countries can both access and publish varies
- Some countries can see costs but not risks, some can track rollout figures but not the technologies behind them, and some can see one connection type but not the rest
Teppo Hemiä, chief executive of Wirepas, said: “Europe is great at tracking how many smart meters are installed, but nobody is tracking the connectivity behind them.
“Countries use different models, but they all expose the same blind spot: central policymakers are expecting leaders to make decades-long, billion-euro investment decisions to meet the targets they’ve set, without giving them the complete and robust data to make them.
“Without a full view of what connectivity choices will cost, what challenges they pose or how they compare to the rest of Europe, we risk committing to a connectivity layer that can’t keep up with what the future grid demands.”
What these data gaps look like in practice
Germany can see costs, but lacks visibility into its network closure risk. It’s one of the few countries to put a figure on sending meter data, with regulated charges of up to €140 a year. Yet each utility sees only its own gateways and contracts, and operators are the only ones with full insight into network timelines. There is no shared view of how many gateways depend on which networks or what replacing them will cost when networks are inevitably switched off.
Poland can see how many of its meters are exposed to upcoming 2G and 3G network switch-offs. Yet it can’t plan for when these networks will close because mobile operators are in charge of those timelines, which in turn means it doesn’t have a national view of what each replacement program will cost.
France knows how many meters it has and the data concentrators, local boxes that collect their readings, needed to cover them. Yet there’s no shared view of what keeping those meters connected costs for 15 years or more, or how that changes as EVs, solar and heat pumps add to the data the network carries.
Great Britain has counted the 12–13 million communications hubs exposed to the 2033 shutdown of 2G and 3G networks, yet lacks visibility into the full cost of replacing them, or of replacing the new 4G hubs when that network is subsequently switched off as well.
Spain knows how its meters connect and who runs the concentrators, the local boxes that collect their readings. Yet there’s no shared view of what keeping them connected costs per meter over its lifetime, or a comparison into what switching to another option will cost.
These findings form part of a wider analysis of Europe's smart meter connectivity, which Wirepas will publish shortly.
ENDS
About Wirepas
Wirepas is a global leader in IoT connectivity, delivering the invisible infrastructure behind ultra-resilient, infinitely scalable mesh networks for large-scale, mission-critical industrial and commercial deployments. Its product, the Wirepas Platform, is based on the principles of NR+, making it globally accessible, standards-based and interoperable. Already running in more than 20 million devices worldwide, including the largest mesh network of over one million smart electricity meters, it is proven across diverse real-world monitoring and control applications. Learn more wirepas.com
The study, from Finnish wireless networking company Wirepas, finds that EU-mandated targets, network sunsets and rising electrification demands are accelerating the push for policymakers to lock in their next-generation connectivity decisions; decisions that will shape networks for 15 years or more.
Yet the data to make these decisions is scattered, patchy or missing. Either it’s not collected, it sits with third parties, or the gap is too wide to close because no single body in Europe is responsible for publishing it. This means governments across the continent are making every effort to develop the best, most informed decisions possible with their hands tied.
The analysis was carried out to establish the true state of smart meter connectivity across Europe. Wirepas looked at publicly available and official information, searching for which technologies each country uses, what they cost over their lifetime and how exposed they are to switch-off, before rating each market’s connectivity on a scale from strong to challenged.
The findings come as the European Commission pushes for electricity to account for 46 per cent of the bloc’s final energy consumption by 2040, an ambition expected to require some €1.2 trillion of grid investment.
The analysis uncovered that:
- No data source gives an adequate Europe-wide view or comparison
- This means the level and amount of data countries can both access and publish varies
- Some countries can see costs but not risks, some can track rollout figures but not the technologies behind them, and some can see one connection type but not the rest
Teppo Hemiä, chief executive of Wirepas, said: “Europe is great at tracking how many smart meters are installed, but nobody is tracking the connectivity behind them.
“Countries use different models, but they all expose the same blind spot: central policymakers are expecting leaders to make decades-long, billion-euro investment decisions to meet the targets they’ve set, without giving them the complete and robust data to make them.
“Without a full view of what connectivity choices will cost, what challenges they pose or how they compare to the rest of Europe, we risk committing to a connectivity layer that can’t keep up with what the future grid demands.”
What these data gaps look like in practice
Germany can see costs, but lacks visibility into its network closure risk. It’s one of the few countries to put a figure on sending meter data, with regulated charges of up to €140 a year. Yet each utility sees only its own gateways and contracts, and operators are the only ones with full insight into network timelines. There is no shared view of how many gateways depend on which networks or what replacing them will cost when networks are inevitably switched off.
Poland can see how many of its meters are exposed to upcoming 2G and 3G network switch-offs. Yet it can’t plan for when these networks will close because mobile operators are in charge of those timelines, which in turn means it doesn’t have a national view of what each replacement program will cost.
France knows how many meters it has and the data concentrators, local boxes that collect their readings, needed to cover them. Yet there’s no shared view of what keeping those meters connected costs for 15 years or more, or how that changes as EVs, solar and heat pumps add to the data the network carries.
Great Britain has counted the 12–13 million communications hubs exposed to the 2033 shutdown of 2G and 3G networks, yet lacks visibility into the full cost of replacing them, or of replacing the new 4G hubs when that network is subsequently switched off as well.
Spain knows how its meters connect and who runs the concentrators, the local boxes that collect their readings. Yet there’s no shared view of what keeping them connected costs per meter over its lifetime, or a comparison into what switching to another option will cost.
These findings form part of a wider analysis of Europe's smart meter connectivity, which Wirepas will publish shortly.
ENDS
About Wirepas
Wirepas is a global leader in IoT connectivity, delivering the invisible infrastructure behind ultra-resilient, infinitely scalable mesh networks for large-scale, mission-critical industrial and commercial deployments. Its product, the Wirepas Platform, is based on the principles of NR+, making it globally accessible, standards-based and interoperable. Already running in more than 20 million devices worldwide, including the largest mesh network of over one million smart electricity meters, it is proven across diverse real-world monitoring and control applications. Learn more wirepas.com
Angela Jameson
Burlington PR
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