News

Coventry is well on its way to becoming a smart water data City, as Severn Trent’s £20m smart water metering programme hits its target of installing 32,000 meters earlier than planned.

The company along with working partners Network Plus, have now installed over 30,000 smart meters in Coventry in just under three months since starting in March, hitting its target ahead of schedule. 

The project that forms part of Severn Trent’s ambitious Green Recovery programme, will see over 150,000 Itron smart water meters installed in a trial to turn Coventry and Warwickshire into a smart water data region - helping to save water, find and fix leaks faster and give valuable water usage insights.

Anthony Hickinbottom, Green Recovery Project Lead says: “We set ourselves an ambitious target of installing 32,000 meters in just three months as an initial trial, and we’re thrilled that we hit that target earlier than expected - so this project is well and truly underway.

“This initial trial has allowed us get valuable understanding of what to expect when we roll out to the wider area, as well as take on any learnings and insight to help ensure the rest of the programme runs as smoothly. 

“We’re really excited about this project, as it really does have so many amazing benefits. By creating a smart water data, we’re able to get a greater understanding and insight into the network and with help of these clever smart meters we can ensure we’re saving water where possible doing what we can to look after it.”

Severn Trent say the project will help the company understand water usage better than ever before, find and fix leaks faster and deliver water saving benefits for communities and the environment. 

The company installed the first meter in March, has installed 32,000 by the end of May and is now well on track to reach its target of over 150,000 smart meter installs by 2025 across Warwickshire.

Dan Holland, Joint Chief Executive of Network Plus said, “We are pleased to have worked with Severn Trent on this trial and thrilled to have delivered ahead of schedule.

“Smart meters make sense from every perspective – they give customers greater understanding of their household water usage, enable our clients to remotely record usage, and most significantly provide vital information about leaks in real time, facilitating quicker response and repair times. 

“We look forward to continuing to support our clients in rolling out this essential infrastructure across the UK.” 

“By installing Itron Aquadis+ water meters equipped with Cyble 5 multi-connectivity AMI communication modules, Severn Trent Water can gain a better understanding of water

consumption on its network, ultimately creating a more intelligent infrastructure as part of its Green Recovery Program,” said Justin Patrick, Senior Vice President of Device Solutions at Itron. “More than 32,000 Itron Aquadis+ water meters equipped with the communication modules have been deployed in the past few months, and we are excited to continue our collaboration on phase II of the smart meter project rollout.”

The programme will now look to roll out across the rest of Coventry, including Warwickshire over the coming months.

Severn Trent is investing £566m between now and 2025 on projects aimed to support the UK’s green economic bounce back following the pandemic.  

The projects include creating bathing-quality stretches of river, improving 500km of river five years earlier than planned, increasing water supplies, alleviating flooding using nature-based solutions and supporting customers by replacing old lead pipes and installing smart meters to save water and customers money. 

For more info on this project, please visit : stwater.co.uk/smartmeters.