Smart Meters for Every Household? Engineers Say: Respect the Law First, Then New Costs
The engineers' association ИНРМ opposed mandatory replacement with smart meters for all households, calling for existing legal regulations to be respected first, before new costs are introduced for consumers.
The Energy Regulatory Commission is announcing a new energy system involving smart meters for every household in the country, arguing this would enable real-time electricity consumption tracking and more accurate bills instead of estimated self-reporting. However, the Association of Engineers of the Republic of Macedonia (ИНРМ) has opposed the idea of mandatory replacement for all households.
According to ИНРМ, before introducing new, expensive technology, existing legal regulations already governing the area should first be respected. The key open question the engineers raise is who exactly will pay for replacing the meters — whether the cost falls on households, on the distributor, or is split somehow — a question with no clear answer yet from the regulator.
By comparison, the current model of monthly meter reading costs an estimated €10 million a year, and smart meters would theoretically eliminate that cost item — but only if the investment in the devices themselves doesn't exceed the savings, a calculation that has not yet been presented publicly in detail.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 5, 2026
