Smart water metering a key for Britain’s future water sector

Millions of smart water meters are proposed for installation before 2030 and beyond in Britain as water companies seek to reduce leakages and consumption.

Business plans submitted to the regulator Ofwat by the country’s 16 water companies for the period 2025-2030 – for what is known as the 2024 price review (PR24) period and also asset management period 8 (AMP8) – all feature smart metering, either as continuation of existing programmes or new programmes to launch.

In that period – and subject to Ofwat’s final decisions on the plans in December 2024 – upwards of 8 million smart water meters could be deployed across Britain at a cost in the region of £2 billion (US$2.4 billion).

Ofwat’s demand for the business plans for the PR24 period was that they should deliver a “step change” in performance and investment “to drive improvements for the environment and customers”.

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In particular Ofwat indicated the need to strengthen capacity in water resources along with a reduction of pollution from storm overflows to meet the challenges of climate change and population growth as well as to embrace innovation, such as making greater use of digitalisation.

Smart water meters proposals

While the different presentations of the business plans make it difficult to extract complete figures without in-depth assessment, some standouts are as follows.

Anglian Water, which serves 4.3 million people with water supply, aims to complete its full smart meter rollout by 2030. Per capita consumption is planned to be reduced to 124l/day, towards Ofwat’s 2050 target of 110l/d.

Welsh Water/Dŵr Cymru, which serves 1.3 million households, should achieve 48% smart meter penetration in 2023 and is targeting 65% by 2030, corresponding to about 220,000 additional meters, towards 96% penetration by 2050.

Severn Dee/Hafren Dyfrdwy proposes to replace 15,340 existing meters with smart meters, corresponding to about 24% of properties served.

Northumbrian Water proposes to extend its smart metering programme in the water stressed areas of its service area at a cost of ca £125 million ($152.2 million).

Severn Trent Water proposes to install approximately 1 million smart meters to achieve a 16% leakage reduction.

South West Water proposes to install about 530,000 smart meters.

Southern Water proposes to install over 1 million smart meters at a cost of £165 million ($201 million).

Thames Water proposes to install a further 1 million smart meters, increasing the penetration from 54% currently up to 74% by 2030 and with accelerated rollout to cover 100% of the meterable businesses.

United Utilities proposes to install 900,000 smart meters.

Wessex Water proposes a rapid rollout of smart meters to 40% of household and business customers by 2030, exchanging about 1.4 million meters that have reached end of life.

Affinity Water proposes to deploy 400,000 smart meters, covering about one-third of its customer base.

Portsmouth Water proposes to deliver smart meters to 324,000 customers as part of the evolution of its network and the installation of smart meters for nearly all its customers by 2035.

South East Water proposes to replace and upgrade 275,000 customer meters towards a complete rollout by 2035.

South Staffs Water is proposing to launch a universal metering programme and with an installation rate of 31,000 water meters per year to increase the penetration from 53% currently to around 76% by 2030 towards a 100% target in 2035.

SES Water proposes to accelerate the installation of 194,000 smart meters.

Decision timelines

All the companies’ business plans with their supplementary documentation are publicly available and will be publicised to their respective customers during the remainder of the year.

Ofwat anticipates publishing its draft determinations towards the end of Q2 of 2024.

The PR24 period begins on 1 April 2025, with its outcomes to then start reflecting in customer bills.