UK’s Business Stream awards 4-year contract for automated meter reading

Scotland-based water retailer Business Stream has signed a four-year contract with Morrison Data Services for the provision of automated meter reading and data management services.

As of April 2021, Morrison Data Services began providing the utility with the services including visual meter reading. The contract covers 60% of the water company’s customers and equates to almost 400,000 customer visits per annum.

A previous contract awarded to Morrison Data Services by the utility covered meter reading services across large-scale, non-domestic customers.

Douglas McLaren, the CEO of Business Stream, said: “The provision of automated and visual meter reading services is an essential part of our service, helping to ensure our customers receive accurate bills, based on the water they actually use. We’re looking forward to working with the team to ensure we can continue to enhance our meter reading capabilities, delivering direct benefits to our customers.”

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Automated meters are part of the utility’s digital transformation, customer services, and water conservation efforts. The announcement comes at a time Business Stream has saved more than £31 million ($42.5 million) for its UK customers over the past year.

Up to £14 million ($19.2 million) in savings was achieved through water efficiency and digital monitoring solutions including automated metering infrastructure. Since 2008, the water retailer claims it has managed to save 52 billion liters of water – the equivalent of nearly 21,000 filled Olympic-sized swimming pools through digital solutions.

In addition to helping the utility accurately bill its customers thereby protecting revenue collection, automated metering helps reduce non-revenue water through quick detection of leaks within the distribution network.

An increasing number of water utilities in Europe are deploying automated and advanced meters owing to increasing awareness of the benefits associated with smart meters and as part of government efforts to enhance water conservation, according to Global Industry Analysts.