Sweden — Reaching 100% ‘smart meters’ July 1, 2009

In 2005 Sweden decided that data from electricity meters must be collected at least once a month from all customers no later than July 1, 2009. Since then, more than 5 million Automated Meter Reading (AMR) units have been installed in Sweden. In 2006, the European Union Measuring Instruments Directive (MID) came into force. As a result, the Swedish regulation for electricity meters and measuring systems has been revised in steps. The first step in 2006 to implement MID, mainly giving requirements for placing consumer meters on the market. A second step in 2009 giving requirements for all meters and measuring systems in use. The new regulation has a stronger focus on the measuring range and influence quantities for a specific installation and requires an operator performing inspections to be accredited. Now, as the implementation of AMR-systems and regulation is mainly over, there are new issues coming up, for example the reliability of electronic meters, power quality/EMC related to power line communication, on-site testing and quality management, smart grids, software security and small scale production of electricity.