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Itron has launched two new electricity meters in Australia designed to give utilities deeper visibility into low-voltage networks as the country’s energy landscape shifts under the pressure of growing rooftop solar adoption and changing demand patterns.
The Riva S and Riva T IEC meters are the first devices built on Itron’s Gen6 network platform to be made available in the Asia-Pacific region. The rollout builds on the company’s more than 25-year presence in Australia, including its operations in Adelaide.
The meters combine metrology capabilities, high-frequency sampling and edge computing in a single device, functioning as both grid sensors and control points for consumer energy resources (CERs). They are intended to help utilities build a foundation for improving low-voltage network visibility and grid flexibility while preparing for upcoming regulatory requirements set by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC).
A distributed energy challenge
Vice President of Sales, Asia-Pacific at Itron, Fraser Young (pictured), pointed to the scale of the challenge facing Australian utilities.
“Utilities across Australia face growing challenges from increasing behind-the-meter energy resources, accelerating electrification and changing low-voltage network conditions,” Young explained. “Australia is one of the world’s leading distributed energy markets, with approximately one in three homes equipped with rooftop solar.”
As CER adoption continues to expand, utilities require greater insight into low-voltage network performance, including available hosting capacity and emerging constraints that can affect reliability, voltage management and customer exports, he added.
The meters are designed to provide real-time visibility into grid conditions, enabling earlier identification of emerging network faults and constraints. They also support proactive management of CERs across the low-voltage network and can help utilities make more informed decisions around operational and capital budget allocation.
Sensing beyond consumption
The devices extend visibility beyond standard energy consumption data, with the ability to detect voltage fluctuations, transformer loading issues, emerging faults and other network conditions through high-frequency sensing and edge computing.
“The meter traditionally told utilities what energy customers had consumed. Increasingly, it needs to tell them what is happening across the network,” Young remarked.
Utilities can begin with metering and localised grid awareness, then expand to distributed intelligence applications as their operational needs evolve, according to Itron.
Regulatory context
The launch arrives against the backdrop of new AEMC rules that will require smart meters installed from 30 November 2028 to be capable of communicating real-time data wirelessly. The broader energy transition is driving utility investment in next-generation Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) as timely, granular data becomes more central to how utilities plan for and operate the grid.
Built on open DLMS/COSEM standards and designed to meet International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) requirements, the meters are intended to support integration across utility systems, devices and technologies.
Modular architecture
A key element of the Riva meters is their modular distributed intelligence network interface card (NIC) architecture, which decouples communications and edge processing from the meter itself. This approach is designed to support vendor choice and give utilities flexibility in how they deploy and expand their infrastructure.
The meters also offer backward compatibility with earlier generations of Itron solutions, which the company says is aimed at helping utilities protect prior investments as they modernise.
Senior Vice President of Networked Solutions at Itron, John Marcolini, highlighted the changing role of the meter in a more complex grid environment.
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“As CER adoption accelerates and bi-directional power flows introduce new complexity, the role of the meter is evolving into an intelligent grid asset capable of providing greater visibility into conditions across the low-voltage network,” Marcolini observed.
He described the Riva meters’ architecture as interoperable and modular, designed to help utilities preserve technology choice and expand capabilities over time.
Phased deployment
Young emphasised the importance of allowing utilities to modernise in stages without disrupting current operations.
“With a standards-based design and distributed intelligence-ready architecture, the Itron Riva meter gives utilities a practical, lower-risk starting point for modernisation,” he outlined. “Leveraging existing AMI networks and a centralised head-end system that supports interoperability, utilities can deploy Riva meters and other distributed intelligence-enabled devices in phases, protecting existing investments while supporting a more open, interoperable utility ecosystem.”
The meters support a range of remote operations, including remote disconnect, load control and automated event management, with utility-configurable options that can be aligned with operational and business requirements. Cybersecurity has also been built into the firmware and platform design.
Global footprint
Itron has shipped more than 18 million distributed intelligence-enabled meters globally and licensed more than 27 million distributed intelligence applications.
The Riva IEC meters are initially available in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with plans to expand to other countries across the Asia-Pacific region.
Last Updated on September 23, 2026 by Nick Ross
