2. Examples of realizations

There are many technical, economic and even political choices involved in building an electronic meter. The following examples of meters currently in service illustrate this situation.

Clearly, the development strategies of the various manufacturers vary. For example, while it may seem desirable, for obvious reasons of cost reduction, to combine processing and display on the same metering circuit, this could considerably hinder the future development of the meter. Indeed, when metering and ancillary processing functions (maximum consumption calculation, multiple tariffing, load curve, etc.) are combined on the same circuit, it is difficult to modify the latter without risking altering the former. In fact, experience over the last few years has shown that technology is evolving so rapidly that upgrades to the same product are rare, as it appears that upgrading an...