Severn Trent creating a ‘smart water hub’ in central England

Water company Severn Trent is creating a smart water hub as it expands its smart metering rollout in and around the city of Birmingham.

The rollout is planned to deliver a total of 250,000 smart water meters across Birmingham, Leicestershire and parts of Shropshire before March 2025.

With these, starting in Birmingham and Leicester, approximately 125,000 existing metered customers will be upgraded to a new smart meter, while a further 125,000 customers will have a new meter installed.

Once complete, and complementing the company’s 150,000 smart meter installations across Coventry and Warwickshire currently under way, Severn Trent will have converted its region into what it calls a smart water hub, with for example better customer control of their consumption and more rapid identification of leaks.

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“It’s no secret that people generally save water when they switch to a meter, and we believe as well you should only pay for what you use, and smart meters are a great way of making sure that’s the case,” says Thomas Puddefoot, Subject Matter Expert at Severn Trent.

“With climate change, and the drier summers we’re seeing, it really is important we’re conserving water as best we can. Our smart meters will help us plan and manage demand meaning our customers get the water they need, when they need it.” 

The smart metering programme is being delivered by Severn Trent with infrastructure service provider Network Plus as part of its Green Recovery programme, which is planned to see £566 million (US$721 million) investment in its water supply by March 2025.

Alongside the smart water metering, other components of the plan include pipe replacements, improving the quality of water and planning to meet future demand.

Customers with smart meters can access a digital platform where they will be able to see their consumption on an hourly basis, and also get a personalised monthly report showing how the water is used, along with tips to reducing their consumption and the water bills.

 In its 2022/23 review, Severn Trent reported that with around 37,000 meters connected online, almost 900 leaks had been identified with almost 3Ml/d savings, two-thirds of them slow leaks less than 100l/hour.