Victoria’s South East Water reaches 100,000 smart meter milestone

Victoria, Australia water utility South East Water has reported surpassing its 100,000 smart meter milestone with significant benefits already recorded.

The rollout, which aims to replace around 1 million traditional water meters with upgraded digital meters by 2029, has so far enabled alerts to over 14,200 customers on leaks on their properties and savings of over AU$5.2 million (US$3.4 million) on water bills.

In many cases, the meters detected small leaks weeks or months before they came to the surface, saving more than 1.25 billion l of drinking water that may have been lost had the leaks gone undetected, South East Water has stated.

The savings correspond to an average saving of $100 off customers’ next quarterly bills.

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South East Water acting general manager Digital Utility, Mark Elvins said reaching almost 100,000 meters was an exciting milestone, but there was still work to do in the coming years.

“The savings for customers so far represent a huge effort, across our entire organisation to improve customer experience from the minute they turn on the tap to when they receive their bill.

“We still have a big task ahead to roll out more digital meters across our entire network but we’re full steam ahead.”

South East Water, which delivers water and wastewater services to approximately 1.8 million people in southeast Melbourne, launched its ‘digital utility’ programme in 2018.

An initial trial involved 30,000 meters, conducted as part of a broader metropolitan Melbourne joint digital metering trial with Greater Western Water and Yarra Valley Water.

For leak detection, South East Water has developed the ‘Sotto’ vibration sensor, which is incorporated into the smart meter.

The programme forms a key element of South East Water’s five-year customer commitment through its Price Submission 2023–28 to support customers, community and the environment.

With the smart water meters customers are able to access their consumption down to the hourly level and billing information online.