Smart Water Metering: lessons learned to help us tackle water scarcity

Without action we will be short of 5,000 million litres of water per day in England and Wales by 2050, around 25% of current levels of supply. Data from Smart Water Meters is critical to helping tackle this, for example enabling the identification of leaks and losses at a property or helping consumers and prosumers to understand how to save water (and reduce bills).

But this means installing meters at the majority of homes and businesses in the country and then using the data effectively to engage customers – the scale and complexity of this challenge requires a more joined-up approach and level of collaboration than we have today. 

This is the conclusion of a Baringa report, commissioned by Ofwat, and published today. 

Summary findings

Baringa found that Smart Water Metering requires: 

1. A greater level of central coordination and governance. 
2. A set of common standards and metrics that help drive the target outcomes. 
3. Collective investment in marketing, data sharing and solutions to common challenges. 
4. A review of barriers to progress such as policy, funding or supply chain constraints. 

In addition, there are strategic and operational points for individual water companies to consider that will help them set up and deliver their programmes successfully, such as: 

• Innovative commercial models that focus on getting reliable, timely, accurate data. 

• Aligned incentives to ensure technology, comms and install providers work together. 

• Deployment capabilities that are continuously improved to reduce install failure rates. 

• New capabilities and operating models that harness the power of smart data to drive benefits. 

This study aims to be a foundational resource for the UK Water Sector, on which it can make informed choices on the strategic direction and operational roll out of Smart Water Metering. 

About the research 

Baringa’s Water and Smart Metering subject matter experts, undertook proprietary research and analysis including in-depth interviews with more than 70 stakeholders from 50 organisations and a review of more than 40 published studies and white papers. 

It lays out a set of findings and recommendations for governing bodies and the wider industry to consider in delivering Smart Water Metering, which is critical for us to tackle a looming water scarcity challenge.  

View the full report here