A smart meter replaces the walk-by reading with a digital meter that measures consumption at regular intervals and transmits it to the utility. Electricity meters are mains powered and can afford richer communication, often a Wi-SUN mesh or cellular link. Gas and water meters run on batteries that must last many years, so they use low-power radios such as NB-IoT or LPWAN and send far less often.
Smart meters are among the largest IoT deployments, and they are the sensing layer of the smart grid: interval data lets utilities see load in near real time, and run demand response programs. The trade-offs are privacy, since consumption traces reveal household habits, and the long replacement cycle, which means communication choices made today must still be supported decades later. See IoT in energy for the wider picture.
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