Smart meters are seen as a significant part of the solution to reducing domestic water usage. Thames Water have recorded post installation savings of 12-17%. However, existing infrastructure does not provide the best environment for this new technology.
Following multiple trials, all water companies are now working on plans for Advanced metering infrastructure, where all new connections or meters use the latest generation of smart meters. The issues raised in the early trials has led much of the UK water industry to recognise that the new technology meters need a better environment than the traditional hole in the ground.
Experience has shown that the most effective method of installing the advanced metering infrastructure is to locate the meter above ground. The Groundbreaker water management system co-locates the water meter on the exterior wall of the dwelling, alongside gas and electric meters, providing a perfect location for high technology meters.
In addition to providing a better environment for the meter, locating the meter above ground has the additional benefits of readability for the consumer, extended signal transmission and easy meter exchange. Whilst developers see the short-term advantage of lower unit costs for traditional boundary boxes, the ongoing costs of reading meters and maintaining supplies can be higher for supply and housing management.
Future Proofing the network
Above ground meter housings do have a higher unit cost than traditional boundary boxes. However, when factoring in installation cost the differential is under £15 per unit and that’s before considering the long-term reliability of boundary boxes.
The House Builders Federation have determined that 53% of underground installations require re-work. With an average repair cost of £268.27, the average re-work cost per boundary box installed is approaching £150.
These failures lead to leakage and water waste. WRc estimate 1 in 600 property connections suffer from leakage. Working on a predicted 90-day repair timeline, this leads to an estimated loss of 36m².
By comparison the Groundbreaker System has no recorded re-work costs, where the unit was correctly installed – future proofing the network and minimising the risk of re-work and developing future leaks.
Designing out leak paths
A leak on a pipe joint upstream of the water meter results in lost revenue to the water provider as well as the loss of a precious resource. With Boundary boxes there is a lack of visibility of this leakage and requires assessments of losses from water meter data and investigations in the field to listen for leakage.
The unique location of the Groundbreaker water management has the additional benefit of allowing for an unjointed water supply, hence maintaining the integrity of the supply. The use of an uninterrupted supply has been recognised as best practice by Water UK and the Home Builders Federation. This minimises the risk of future leakage on the service pipe.
Steve Leigh, Managing Director of Groundbreaker commented,
“Portsmouth Water have demanded surface mounted meter housings as the standard required for all new properties for over 15 years. Working with them we have established the effectiveness and reliability of Groundbreaker.”
He continued,
“With the need to maximise the effectiveness of smart metering programmes, I can’t see that there is a viable alternative – putting smart technology in a hole in the ground just does not work.”
So for future proofing water supply and reducing management costs of water supply, working with developers to install above ground meters is the long term solution.