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It’s no secret that the Internet of Things (IoT) in its entirety is thriving. According to the GSMA, IoT has an expected revenue that’s estimated to reach $1.8 trillion by 2026. Furthermore, this colossal amount of revenue reaches across a variety of industries and businesses including:

  • $441 billion – Connected homes
  • $376 billion – Consumer electronics
  • $273 billion – Connected car technologies
  • $128 billion – Connected energy
  • $78 billion – Connected cities

So, how should the utility industry prepare for this major IoT expansion?

As with any new technology, utility providers should understand the risk involved and be able to implement new securities. These new security technologies will serve to protect the devices themselves as well as the IoT platforms.

Additionally, IoT helps utilities enhance customer experience, improve employee productivity, reliability, safety, and ensure compliance and revenue management. IoT also changes how energy is managed, measured and distributed.

Let’s take a quick look into how different utility sectors can utilize these IoT technologies.

Water Management

Every drop counts! It should come as no surprise that water conservation is vital and necessary for smart homes and smart cities. IoT helps this cause by supplying water sensors and water leak detectors. The sensors provide insights into water’s quality, pressure, temperature and more.

Energy

Smart meters are by far the most popular IoT device for utility companies. These meters provide users with the availability to track their energy consumption, thus having a major financial effect. According to BI Intelligence, utility companies can expect to save $157 billion by 2035 by using smart meters.

Oil & Gas

Oil companies also benefit from IoT, because the technologies allow the companies to have a more comprehensive understanding of how well their wells are performing. BI Intelligence expects IoT devices in use on oil extraction sites to grow from 346,000 in 2015 to 4.96 million in 2020.

While IoT is undeniably forging its way into the future, it will also prove to be a powerful, modern, technological presence for the utilities industry.

Stay tuned to our blog for more ways IoT will transform the utilities industry! Be sure to follow us @LightRiver_Tech and LinkedIn.

 

Sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/internet-of-things-utilities-water-electric-gas-2016-10

https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/press-release/gsma-highlights-us1-8-trillion-iot-revenue-opportunity-mobile-network-operators/

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