06 November 2025

Umair Ejaz, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Tuxera

Smart meters are meant to serve as long-lasting components of critical energy infrastructure. They are designed to collect, store, and transmit usage data for up to two decades. However, a growing number of devices are experiencing breakdowns after just a few years.

In the UK alone, nearly four million smart meters were identified as underperforming in 2024. For utilities and manufacturers, early smart meter failure is a key business challenge. Failing meters disrupt billing processes, create compliance issues, increase environmental footprint, and result in unexpected operational costs, such as field engineer callouts and premature replacements.

What’s often treated as a technical fault can lead to damaging long-term business performance, profitability, and even brand reputation. With energy technology expected to be smarter, reliable, and ESG compliant, smart meter longevity is a significant commercial requirement that needs to be addressed today.

Premature smart meter failure hits the bottom line

A smart meter experiencing a technical fault means the consequences extend well beyond the cost of the hardware. Replacing a unit incurs multiple expenses, including dispatching technical teams to the field, covering the cost of the new meter, and potentially facing penalties if the failure occurs within the warranty period. Customers may also be affected by inaccurate billing or service interruptions. When replacements need to be carried out across hundreds of thousands of units, the financial burden can rapidly reach millions.

These failures also negatively affect utility operations, as accurate meter data is essential for billing processes, grid management, and energy initiatives. Meter breakdowns directly impact customer service and can damage the utility company’s reputation by undermining customer and market trust.

In many regions, smart meter rollouts are also linked to strict regulatory timelines and national sustainability targets. Falling short of service commitments or replacing meters ahead of schedule may result in regulatory fines, negative media attention, and declining ESG performance metrics.

Breaking down the smart meter longevity problem

Smart meters developed ten years ago were built for a different era where data reporting was infrequent and often required manual meter readings. Today’s energy landscape has shifted dramatically. Meters must now continuously gather, store, and transmit large volumes of data, log events, and manage firmware updates. These functions support real-time grid operations, demand-side management, and actionable insights for utilities and customers.

This high-frequency data is stored in internal flash memory like NAND, which is commonly used in smart meters. However, NAND flash has a finite number of write/erase cycles. With every data write, the meter also creates ‘garbage’, i.e., obsolete or redundant information that must be removed to clear space. This garbage collection process places additional stress on the memory.

When standard file systems that are not optimised for flash are used, the pressure from constant data operations can exceed what older device designs were built to handle. Without robust software and system-level design, meters begin to fail earlier than intended.

“Major smart meter manufacturers are embracing more intelligent system architectures that increase device longevity without raising production overheads.”

Designing smart meters for real ROI

Major smart meter manufacturers are embracing more intelligent system architectures that increase device longevity without raising production overheads. Manufacturers can significantly extend the operational life of devices by improving how meters manage increasing data loads and embedding resilience into their core systems. The key lies in smarter flash-optimised software built to withstand the demands of high-frequency data capture without degrading prematurely. As a result, manufacturers can avoid the need for expensive hardware upgrades or additional flash memory.

Since smart meters operate on resource-constrained embedded systems using compact, low-footprint software and hardware components, increasing memory capacity is typically not an option. Instead, manufacturers can achieve higher performance and extended lifespan by improving how existing memory is utilised. Purpose-built file systems are designed to protect data integrity, even in harsh environments such as sudden power cuts or voltage fluctuations, while maintaining a low footprint.
When meters last the full 15–20 years they were designed for, they deliver true ROI for utilities and help them stay aligned with national smart energy goals. They also reduce the need for early replacements, cutting carbon impact and supporting the ESG goals of both manufacturers and utility providers.

Longevity as the currency in the smart energy era

Extending smart meter lifespans is a critical driver of business value. For smart meter manufacturers, the cost of adding resilient software in the meters during the design phase is much lower than replacing them in the field. On the other hand, utility companies benefit by avoiding early replacements and reducing customer service issues, while also strengthening their regulatory compliance and ESG credentials.

From a reputational standpoint, longer-lasting devices help vendors differentiate in a crowded and competitive market. As utility companies become more focused on reliability, sustainability, and operational excellence, the ability to guarantee long-term performance becomes a critical procurement factor.

Smart meter manufacturers that prioritise longevity and take action by improving how their devices handle and store data will be well-positioned to build trust, win contracts, and become leaders in a fast-evolving energy landscape.