This article provides a comparison of various wireless data transmission protocols, such as Wireless M-Bus, Lo- RaWAN, Sigfox, NB-IoT and a newly developed proprietary protocol, studying their performance in the application of batterypowered residential water meters. Key aspects of the comparison include energy consumption, which is analyzed through comparing unitary amount of charge required to conduct a single, bidirectional data transaction between the meter and base station, and maximum coupling loss which effectively defines the range and coverage in the system. For completeness, the study includes also a brief cost analysis and ends with a conclusion, stating when each of the particular standards should be favored.