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The new hub was developed for water wholesalers to support smart meter data uploading in multiple formats, allowing water retailers to securely access the data.
A partnership between IT and business consulting firm CGI and Market Operator Services (MOSL), the operator of England and Wales’s business water retail market, is being extended to create the Smart Meter Read Hub.
The Hub will support ad-hoc and scheduled data extraction, audit logging, and validation against minimum field standards.
Commenting in a release was Paul Buxton, senior vice president Consulting Services, Energy & Utilities, CGI: “Currently, there is no agreed specific method for sharing smart meter data between wholesalers and retailers, leading to inefficiency, delays, and increased costs.
“The Smart Meter Read Hub will address these issues by creating a common data-sharing mechanism, standardising the process and improving efficiency for both wholesalers and retailers.”
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According to CGI, the new hub will enable the following:
- Market-wide efficiency by replacing multiple wholesaler-retailer data exchange processes with one centralised, standardised data hub.
- Reduced market barriers for new or smaller retailers by simplifying data access and integration processes.
- Future-proofed CMOS settlement by allowing it to handle over 1 million meter reads per month, supporting more frequent read submissions and smart tariff innovation.
- Enhanced regulatory insight through secure, aggregated data sharing.
CGI in a release says how, over the next five years, water companies in the UK plan to roll out smart metering to nearly 800,000 businesses to help effectively manage the growing demand for water and enable Defra’s (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’) target of reducing water consumption by 9% before the end of 2038.
The rollout represents a significant opportunity to enhance data collection and management, with the volume of associated meter reading data expected to increase substantially.
Specifically, adds the firm, it is estimated that the introduction of smart meter reads will drive submissions into the central market operating system (CMOS) for billing and settlement to over 1,000,000 per month.
This is where CGI and MOSL’s Smart Meter Read Hub would come in, described as a secure, modular, and cloud-native platform.
Said Simon Powell, chief information officer, MOSL: “The pressure to reduce water consumption is growing, and smart meters offer significant benefits for customers, companies, and the environment, from ensuring accurate billing to tackling leakage and waste.
“To maximise the benefits of smart metering in the business retail market, organisations must be able to share granular meter read data in a consistent and efficient way. By partnering with CGI to develop a Smart Meter Read Hub, we will unlock these opportunities and simplify processes across the industry.”
The Smart Meter Read Hub initiative follows a request from the UK’s Strategic Panel, the market’s industry group responsible for providing strategic direction and overseeing programmes aimed at improving outcomes for business customers.
The first phase of the smart meter read hub is due to be delivered by the end of March 2026, followed by a second phase to connect the hub to CMOS to allow retailers to submit reads directly into the market’s central system for billing and settlement purposes.
