Turning metering data into grid intelligence

Utilities face growing complexity as the European energy transition accelerates . They must integrate new technologies, manage legacy systems and navigate evolving regulations, all under financial pressure. According to European Union reports, driven by geopolitical tensions and the urgency to decarbonise, renewables now account for 47% of the EU’s power mix and are projected to reach between 75% to 100% in 2050.

This shift is exposing a critical vulnerability: Europe’s ageing grid infrastructure. More than half of the distribution networks are over 40 years old. While global investment in renewables has nearly doubled since 2010, grid investment has stagnated at around $300 billion annually: according to the International Energy Agency — a figure that must double by 2030 to support the energy transition.

At the same time, regulatory demands are also intensifying, with evolving standards, cybersecurity requirements and growing expectations for transparency and return on investment from both regulators and stakeholders.

In this complex environment, grid operators are being pushed to rethink traditional models and adopt new approaches to ensure resilience, scalability and long-term sustainability.

Role of as-a-service delivery model

One of the most effective strategies to stay competitive and resilient is shifting toward service-based approaches that offer greater flexibility, reduce technological risk and optimise operational costs.

Metering as-a-service (MaaS) enables utilities to deploy a fully managed, end-to-end advanced metering infrastructure solution covering the entire metering operation, from devices to data collection, storage and processing. It replaces heavy upfront investments with a predictable service fee, simplifying budgeting and providing operational flexibility.

Typical MaaS offerings include service-level agreement (SLA)-based managed services, platform hosting, continuous monitoring, customer reporting interface, regular updates and enhancements, and, when required, field operations and communication services.

The model is highly flexible, allowing utilities to tailor the level of engagement: from partial outsourcing of specific components to a fully managed service, depending on their operational maturity, in-house capabilities and strategic priorities.

By centralising expertise, standardising processes and leveraging economies of scale, MaaS helps utilities reduce overheads, reduce downtime and accelerate issue resolution. At the same time, it eliminates the need to maintain complex and costly IT and communication infrastructures – freeing utilities to concentrate on their core processes.

Experience from real-world deployments within the Gridspertise Group – including Aidon’s full MaaS implementations in Finland – demonstrates measurable benefits: utilities have registered a double-digit percentage point reduction on operational cost, including field operations.

From metering to meaningful insights

MaaS is reshaping how utilities deploy and manage digital metering systems: it simplifies implementation, accelerates rollouts and enables seamless integration of new technologies.

By turning metering into a continuous data stream, MaaS lays the foundation for smarter operations and scalable growth. This reliable flow of data unlocks the ability to develop new value-added services, tailored to evolving customer and grid needs. When combined with advanced energy data management capabilities, metering data becomes a strategic asset powering grid intelligence. The solution enables to transform raw data into meaningful insights, improving billing accuracy, enhancing grid monitoring and consumption analysis.

Data the core of the digital grid

Advanced energy data management is emerging as a cornerstone of the energy transition. Data now drives everything from billing accuracy to demand side flexibility and the integration of distributed renewable resources.

Gridspertise Group’s Energy Data Management offering, enhanced by Energyworx technology, offers an end-to-end digital backbone to implement, run and scale operations, unlocking significant business value for utilities navigating the complexities of the digital grid. By transforming metering and sensor data into actionable intelligence, it enables real-time decision-making, improve outage response, and automate grid operations, laying the groundwork for a more responsive and participatory grid.

Fully integrated into Gridspertise’s portfolio, the Energyworx platform, now has significantly increased the opex efficiency through process automation and optimised cloud infrastructure management, while integrating seamlessly with head-end systems, gateways, enterprise systems and data hubs.

Enabling the intelligent grid

As Europe’s energy transition gains momentum, the convergence of digitalisation, data and service-based models is reshaping grid innovation. Intelligence has become as critical as infrastructure, with scalable, data-driven solutions unlocking actionable insights. These advancements are improving operational efficiency, automating billing processes and customer interactions, and enabling utilities to deliver smarter, more responsive services.

With the integration of Aidon and Energyworx, Gridspertise Group combines leading expertise in smart metering and grid technology, MaaS and energy data management within a single, modular portfolio designed to support utilities in their digitalisation journey and maximise the value of energy data for a smarter and more resilient future.

The new offering will be presented at Enlit Europe in Bilbao.

About the author

Tommi Blomberg is Chief Strategy Officer at Gridspertise Group and CEO of Aidon, bringing global finance and operations expertise to drive strategic growth and innovation across the Group.

About Gridspertise Group  

Gridspertise Group is a technology partner driving the digital transformation of electricity distribution networks. Established in 2021 as a carve-out from Enel’s expertise, it became independent in 2022 and acquired Aidon in 2023 and Energyworx in 2025. Today, it combines over 20 years’ experience with a global base of 200+ utilities, under Enel and CVC ownership.