Itron is a US-leader in smart energy meters and smart energy networks. Once you have these smart meters widely deployed across the electricity network, you can start to do really interesting things. This data-file gathers concrete examples of Itron’s smart energy network technology, based on reviewing 15 patents.
Itron was founded in 1977, it is headquartered in Washington, and it has over 5,000 employees. Itron also has the largest market share in the US for smart energy meters and smart energy network devices (followed by Landis+Gyr). It also produces smart gas meters, smart water meters, other IOT devices and “smart city” services.
Overall, at the time of writing, Itron has delivered c300M communicating endpoints across various energy and water networks. The company generated $2.4bn of revenue in 2024, of which 82% was from North America, and 68% was from networked solutions.
But what are networked solutions, in smart grids? We have found that online descriptions tend to be a bit vague and lacking in specific details. Hence we wanted to review more concrete case studies.
Moreover, is smart energy network technology saturating (now that smart meter penetration in North America is at 80%). Or is it structurally growing, as grids have ever more access to data, intelligence, and opportunities for optimization?
In this data-file, we reviewed and summarized 15 patents from Itron, filed in 2024-25, in order to find concrete examples for what is being done at the cutting edge in Itron’s smart energy network technology. The examples were fascinating and are presented in the data-file.
90% of the patents administer some kind of network, of which two-thirds hinge on smart meters. Data is either received from smart meters, or instructions are pushed to smart meters. I.e., once you have a network of smart meters, you can start to do really interesting things. Examples are in the data-file.
We conclude that companies like Itron can add value to utilities, via network solutions that layer in on top of the existing fleet of smart meters. We think this opportunity space is growing rapidly, helped by the rise of AI. This is reminiscent of our prior patent screen into Kraken/Octopus.