MOSL’s Strategic Panel, the competitive water market’s most senior governing body, has published a strategy to guide water companies as they prepare to roll out smart metering to non-household (NHH) customers.

Photo credit: Thames Water

Announcing the strategy, MOSL said the challenge of meeting the demand for water is becoming more difficult as a result of regional growth and the impact of climate change.

Commenting on the strategy, Trisha McAuley, Chair of the Strategic Panel, said:

“The non-household market uses nearly a third of the country’s water, of which just one per cent consumes nearly half. We can therefore make a significant contribution to meeting the country’s water efficiency challenge.

“Water companies have recognised the critical role that smart metering will have in continuing to meet the country’s demand for water and have proposed significant investment programmes in their Water Resource Management Plans and PR24 business plan.

“Having encouraged companies to submit “ambitious” plans, the Strategic Panel urges Ofwat to allow the necessary investment to enable them to deliver the Panel’s Metering Strategy outcomes in the interests of current and future customers, while recognising the need to ensure companies’ proposals are properly evidenced and provide value for money.

“Ofwat is due to announce final determinations in December. In the meantime, the strategy aims to help the water sector roll out smart metering as quickly and efficiently as possible by offering guidance and identifying opportunities for a common approach.

“Smart metering is, in effect, a national rollout being delivered regionally. We have therefore set out timescales to work to, standards for how often meters should be read, how data should be formatted and shared and so on. It also deals with meters that are not due to be upgraded.

“We are grateful to our water company members for their support in developing and feeding back on the strategy and in advance for helping to deliver what promises to be a vital and exciting transformational change for the market and its customers.”

Defra has set companies a legally binding target to reduce overall consumption in the NHH market by 9% by 2038, increasing to 15% by 2050. To help meet the challenge, water companies are proposing major investments in smart metering for both household and business customers in the next five to ten years, i.e. Asset Management Period 8

(2025-30) and AMP9 (2030-35).

The market operator explained that unlike traditional meters, which are required to be read twice per year, smart metering can transmit meter readings much more frequently - as often as every 15 minutes - without needing to be visited.

The significant increase in consumption data has the potential to transform the understanding of where, when and how water is being used and, in doing so, identifying opportunities to save water and identify continuous flow, which may indicate customer-side leakage.

Smart metering promises to deliver a range of benefits, from faster, more accurate bills for customers to enabling wholesalers and retailers to develop more innovative water efficiency products, services and tariffs. The availability of granular data represents an enormous opportunity for retailers to differentiate their service offerings in what is expected to become an increasingly competitive arena.