GB’s United Utilities to launch 1 million smart water meter programme
Image: Arqiva/United Utilities
British water utility United Utilities has selected telecommunications company Arqiva to deliver over 1 million smart meters before 2030.
The deal, with a value of £250 million ($309 million) until 2030 – and an option to extend for a further five years – includes sourcing, installing and commissioning the smart meters and associated devices, as well as the establishment and ongoing management of the data communications network infrastructure.
As part of a long term metering strategy, United Utilities intends to install the smart meters across its service region in England’s north west, including the exchange of all meters for business customers.
The additional insights from this metering data should be critical in managing water in the network, and in reducing consumption and leakage losses.
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Welcoming Arqiva as the utility’s smart metering provider, Mike Gauterin, Customer Services and Technology director at United Utilities, said: “The data we receive from the meters will help drive down leakage both on our network and at customers’ properties as well as helping customers to save money by using less water.”
For Arqiva the contract is the latest as Britain’s water companies race to instal smart meters to improve the management of water resources by reducing the per capita consumption and reducing leaks.
Other recent project wins include with Anglian Water and Affinity Water.
Mike Smith, executive director of Smart Utilities Networks, at Arqiva, says the over 2 million meters delivered over the last decade gives the company a unique perspective on what it takes to deliver these programmes at scale and at a pace that gives the water companies and their customers the outcomes they need.
“The severity of water scarcity in the UK is something people are increasingly aware of and concerned about, and it can only be addressed with better understanding of water use – which comes from data delivered by successful metering programmes.”
United Utilities’ investment in metering is part of a broader strategy that also includes a £525 million ($652 million) package of support for vulnerable customers.
