Smart Water Meters in Swedish Households : The Enablers and Barriers for a Large-Scale Implementation

Abstract: As the global population increases, so does the demand for water, and the increasing water scarcity is a challenge to the global water sector. It is imperative to take large-scale action in order to make water consumption more sustainable, and information and communication technologies such as smart meters have shown great potential.  Sweden is a country that generally does not face water shortage and where research on smart water metering is still rather new. Previous studies have focused on countries where water scarcity is very common, and more research is needed to examine the generalizability of previous findings. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the possibilities for a large-scale implementation of smart water meters in Swedish households, and the guiding research question is: “What are the main enablers and barriers for a large-scale implementation of smart water meters in Swedish households?”. This thesis is of qualitative and exploratory character, and the study consists of a pre-study, a literature review and interviews. Furthermore, the analysis in this thesis is made using a theoretical framework based on Technological Innovation Systems.  The findings indicate that the possibilities for a large-scale implementation of smart water meters in Swedish households are very good. The most significant enablers are that the Swedish water sector is an open and enabling environment, that smart water meters provide more technological opportunities compared to mechanical meters, and that smart water meters are generally accepted among the actors and considered to be the optimal solution in the future.  On the other hand, there are barriers which need to be addressed for a successful large-scale implementation. The most significant barriers are that smart water meters are more expensive and that there are still some uncertainties regarding the choice of technology such as compatibility issues, risk of lock-in effect, and that the technology quickly becomes outdated. However, these factors may not constitute barriers in the future since they either can disappear with time or some of them could be avoided already today. Therefore, the possibilities for a large-scale implementation are still assessed to be very good.