Smart Electricity Meter Patents: Who Files, What They Claim, and Where Filings Are Heading
51.4% concentration. The top five assignees hold 2,522 of 4,906 records in scope — filing here is dominated by a small group rather than spread evenly. Filings ran near 500-576 a year from 2017 through the 2018 peak, then eased through the early 2020s; the -19% move from 287 filings in 2021 to 233 in 2024 is the clearest complete-year read available, and it describes a cooling pace rather than a reversal.
- 1SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD33.6%
- 2HUAWEI TECH CO LTD11.1%
- 3ITRON INC3.7%
- 4KAMSTRUP1.6%
- 5LANDIS GYR TECH INC1.3%
See the full smart electricity meters analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about smart electricity meter patents
Who holds the most patents in smart electricity metering?
Filing in this space is concentrated: the top five assignees account for 51.4% of the 4,906 records in scope, with the leading assignee alone holding 1,649 records. That said, more than 40% of the field sits outside the top ten, held by a long tail of companies with smaller filing counts. Anyone assessing competitive position should look at both the leader board and that long tail, since the latter often signals where newer entrants are staking claims.
Is smart electricity meter patent filing growing or shrinking?
Filing peaked at 576 records in 2018 and has since eased; the most reliable complete-year comparison shows a decline from 287 filings in 2021 to 233 in 2024, a drop of 19%. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart understate true activity and should not be read as proof the field has stalled. The honest read is a cooling pace off an earlier peak, not an exit from the technology.
What technology areas dominate smart meter patent claims?
Software and communications claims now outweigh pure metrology hardware claims. G06F (digital data processing) covers 21.9% of the 4,906 records, H04W (wireless networks) 20.3%, and H04L (digital transmission) 18.7%, all ahead of G01R (electric and magnetic measurement) at 17.7%. Since a record can carry multiple IPC codes, these categories overlap rather than partition the field, which itself reflects how tightly integrated the data and measurement layers have become in modern meter design.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Smart Electricity Meters covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.