Guide
Smart meters reach most US homes, but not most of New England
87% of US residential meters were smart meters in 2025. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire, about one in five was, limiting the rates on offer.
A smart meter, which the Energy Information Administration calls advanced metering infrastructure, records how much electricity a home uses at least every hour and sends the readings back at least once a day. An older automated meter reports only a running total, one way, to a passing truck or a fixed network. A standard meter is read by hand.
The difference matters for what you can pay. A time-of-use rate charges more at some hours than others, and a demand charge bills your highest use at once, so both need a meter that records when you use electricity, not only how much.
Across the country
Utilities reported 149 million residential meters in 2025:
- 87% were smart meters.
- 9% were older automated meters.
- 4% were read by hand.
In 25 states and the District of Columbia, at least 90% of residential meters are smart.
Where they are rare
| State | Smart meters | Automated, one-way | Read by hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 22% | 69% | 9% |
| New Hampshire | 22% | 78% | 0% |
| Connecticut | 22% | 78% | 0% |
| Nebraska | 33% | 64% | 3% |
| New Mexico | 37% | 11% | 52% |
| Rhode Island | 40% | 60% | 0% |
| Wyoming | 40% | 58% | 2% |
| West Virginia | 45% | 16% | 40% |
| Iowa | 46% | 50% | 4% |
| North Dakota | 68% | 31% | 1% |
Most of the gap is a handful of large utilities:
- Eversource reports no smart meters among its 1.5 million residential meters in Massachusetts, 1.2 million in Connecticut or half million in New Hampshire. National Grid in Massachusetts reports them at 29% of its 1.3 million.
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest city utility in the country, reports none among its 1.5 million residential meters; most are still read by hand.
- PNM, New Mexico's largest utility, reports none among its half million; 93% are read by hand.
- MidAmerican Energy in Iowa and Omaha Public Power District in Nebraska run almost entirely on older automated meters.
New England is not all alike. Maine's meters are 99% smart and Vermont's 80%.
What it means for your rate
- Time-of-use and demand rates need one. Where a home has an older meter, the utility usually has to replace it before a household can switch. Peak hours depend on your utility shows what those rates charge, and some utilities charge households for their peak demand covers the other kind.
- It shows you your own pattern. With hourly readings, you can check whether your use falls in the expensive hours before choosing a rate. Is time-of-use cheaper? explains why that is the deciding question.
What this does not tell you
- These are meters, not homes. A home can have more than one meter, and the counts are as utilities report them.
- The count moves fast. A utility replacing its meters, as National Grid is in Massachusetts, can change a state's share a lot in a year.
How we measured this
- Source: EIA-861 final data for 2025, advanced metering: residential meters by type. Smart meters are advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which records use at least hourly and reports it at least daily; automated meters are automated meter reading (AMR), which reports one way for billing; the rest are standard meters.
- Utilities are named where they have at least 100,000 residential meters in a state.
What to do with this
If your utility shows your use hour by hour online, your meter can take a time-of-use rate. Open the calculator to see what your utility's rates would cost at your monthly use.