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Latin America’s Energy Future: Smart Meters Need Smart Grids
Latin America’s Energy Challenge
Latin America is entering a decisive decade for its energy future. Electricity demand is expected to grow nearly 40% by 2040,¹ renewable generation is expanding rapidly, and technical and nontechnical losses remain stubbornly high, often 15–25% in some markets.² Many utilities see smart metering as the next logical step toward modernization. Yet smart meters alone cannot deliver the reliability, customer transparency, and resilience that today’s grid requires. The real transformation will come when smart metering is paired with intelligent, interoperable, and communications-driven smart grids.
Chile Leading Grid Modernization
Chile continues to stand out as a regional leader in digital grid transformation. A supportive regulatory environment, ambitious renewable commitments, and long-term planning have created strong momentum for modernization. Efforts to expand smart metering, enhance customer transparency, and reduce losses have positioned the country for the next stage of digital evolution. Chile’s progress underscores an important lesson: smart metering creates far greater value when supported by a high-performance AMI communications network and a scalable roadmap for broader smart grid capabilities.
Communications: The Backbone of Smart Grids
Smart grid experts universally agree that the most underappreciated component of grid modernization is the network communications layer. Without reliable, secure, and resilient connectivity, advanced grid capabilities cannot function effectively or scale over time.
A modern communications backbone enables utilities to:
– Reduce losses: Improve billing accuracy, detect theft, and gain real-time visibility into system behavior.
– Integrate renewables and DERs: Manage variable generation while protecting grid stability.
– Strengthen reliability: Speed up outage detection, reduce restoration time, and enable automation.
– Enhance customer experience: Offer more transparent billing, dynamic tariffs, and demand-response programs.
In much of Latin America, the communications gap limits how far smart metering programs can go. Closing this gap unlocks the full value of digital modernization.
Smart Grid as a Strategic Platform
Utilities that view smart metering as a stand-alone initiative risk missing the larger opportunity. The smart grid should be treated as a long-term strategic platform that supports current needs while enabling future applications.
A future-ready AMI communications platform can support:
– Distribution automation (FLISR, voltage optimization, capacitor control)
– Grid-edge intelligence and analytics
– DER and EV orchestration
– Multi-utility applications, including water, gas, and street lighting
– Predictive maintenance and asset health management
This platform approach provides the adaptability, scalability, and resilience utilities need to prepare for regulatory changes, customer expectations, and rapid renewable integration.
Long-term ROI for smart metering investments
While smart metering delivers immediate operational benefits, its longest-term value emerges when it becomes part of a broader, communications-enabled smart grid strategy.
Smart grids enable:
– Scalable modernization across electricity, water, gas, and city services
– Resilience against climate events, cyber threats, and operational risk
– Efficient DER and EV integration
– Comprehensive operational visibility from the substation to the grid edge
Treating AMI as a multi-decade technology platform ensures that utilities can expand digital capabilities without repeating costly infrastructure investments.
The Bottom Line
Smart metering is an essential milestone for Latin America, but the region’s most significant gains will come from building smart grids that are intelligent, flexible, and anchored by strong communications infrastructure. By adopting a platform-based strategy that integrates smart metering with advanced smart grid capabilities, utilities can achieve significant improvements in efficiency, reliability, and customer satisfaction, while laying the groundwork for a stronger, more resilient, and more sustainable energy future.
About the Author
Nick Matchett leads Trilliant’s business across Latin America and the Caribbean, working directly with utilities, regulators, and governments to advance grid digitalization, renewable integration, and customer modernization initiatives throughout the region.
(1) Lights On?: Energy Needs in Latin America and the Caribbean to 2040
(2) Energy losses are a brake on Latin America’s energy transition