As shown on this slide, the key concerns for the flow meters are very similar to the concerns for electric metering. Typically, gas and water utilities prefer the lowest cost solution for metering, therefore the meters are typically powered by a battery that will last multiple years. The majority of the cost is the battery. An extra year or any extended battery life reduces the maintenance costs, and the need for a body to travel to and check the battery or change the battery will typically cost more than the entire meter. Another concern is remote upgrade capability, which requires some kind of RF communication and also extra memory. This provides the ability to do a firmware upgrade without deleting the previous firmware. A backup may be required before an upgrade can be done. Finally, the LCD drivers for gas meters and water meters typically require more segments than an electricity meter because of the different characteristics in different regions of the world.