Live & Online International Conference 25 & 26 March 2025. (Workshops 24 & 27)
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SUPPORTING ASSOCIATION
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Speakers Include
Adam Smith, Head of Asset Management and Water Quality, Yorkshire Water
Dr. Mahmoud Al Hader, Head Of Asset Information Section Al Ain Distribution
Dr. Mahmoud Al Hader, Head Of Asset Information Section Al Ain Distribution
Dr. Mahmoud Al Hader, Head Of Asset Information Section Al Ain Distribution
Dr. Mahmoud Al Hader, Head Of Asset Information Section Al Ain Distribution
Dr. Mahmoud Al Hader, Head Of Asset Information Section Al Ain Distribution
Gary Adams, Head of Metering Operations & Smart Transformation, Northumbrian Water
Dr. Mahmoud Al Hader, Head Of Asset Information Section Al Ain Distribution
Gary Adams, Head of Metering Operations & Smart Transformation, Northumbrian Water
Rob Spurrett, CEO and Co-Founder, Lacuna Space
Aaron Burton, Head of Water Efficiency Innovation, Ofwat
Gary Adams, Head of Metering Operations & Smart Transformation, Northumbrian Water
Aaron Burton, Head of Water Efficiency Innovation, Ofwat
Aaron Burton, Head of Water Efficiency Innovation, Ofwat
Aaron Burton, Head of Water Efficiency Innovation, Ofwat
Michael Bold, Smart Metering Manager, United Utilities
Aaron Burton, Head of Water Efficiency Innovation, Ofwat
Aaron Burton, Head of Water Efficiency Innovation, Ofwat
Rick Hants, Head Of EMEA Smart Metering Practice, Accenture
Dr Annalisa De Munari, Water Utilities UKI Strategy & Consulting, Accenture
Mohammad Aljazzazi, Water Planning Engineer, Al Ain Distribution Company
Mohammad Aljazzazi, Water Planning Engineer, Al Ain Distribution Company
Dr Annalisa De Munari, Water Utilities UKI Strategy & Consulting, Accenture
Mohammad Aljazzazi, Water Planning Engineer, Al Ain Distribution Company
Dr Annalisa De Munari, Water Utilities UKI Strategy & Consulting, Accenture
Dr Annalisa De Munari, Water Utilities UKI Strategy & Consulting, Accenture
Kye Smith, NHH SMART Metering Deployment & Engagement Lead, United Utilities
Kye Smith, NHH SMART Metering Deployment & Engagement Lead, United Utilities
Kye Smith, NHH SMART Metering Deployment & Engagement Lead, United Utilities
Kye Smith, NHH SMART Metering Deployment & Engagement Lead, United Utilities
Jason Slade, IMDS Smart Metering Development Manager, Anglian Water Services
Kye Smith, NHH SMART Metering Deployment & Engagement Lead, United Utilities
Jason Slade, IMDS Smart Metering Development Manager, Anglian Water Services
Smart Water Metering and Data Utilisation Agenda 2025: Turning Data Into Actionable Insights
Across the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world, a powerful convergence of factors is accelerating the deployment of smart water metering technologies for 2024 and 2025. This period represents a pivotal moment for the international water industry, marked by an urgent need to address pressing environmental challenges and optimise water resource management.
In the UK, a confluence of regulatory drivers, including Ofwat's 2024 price review, AMP8 Readiness, and the Environmental Act of 2021, all underpinned by the Climate Change Act, propels significant advancements in smart meters. These regulations are compelling UK water utilities to adopt new innovative technologies as a strategic measure to achieve critical goals, such as reducing leakage and lowering per capita water consumption.
The urgency extends beyond the UK, as many parts of Europe grapple with even more severe water scarcity and drought conditions. European utilities are increasingly turning to smart water management solutions not just to meet regulatory demands but to actively engage customers in reducing water usage, which is vital for long-term sustainability. This trend is mirrored globally, where utilities across various regions embrace smart technologies to tackle inefficiencies and drive sustainable water use. From Singapore to Nigeria, the key business drivers have much in common.
Smart Water Metering & Data Utilisation 2025 is the essential gathering for industry leaders, regulators, and innovators seeking to navigate these transformative changes.
THE 2025 AGENDA
While water utilities across the UK, Europe, and globally are at different stages of smart metering adoption, certain priorities remain universal. These include the drive to enhance customer engagement and satisfaction, utilise data more effectively, and address non-revenue water (NRW) caused by leaks, inefficiencies, and metering inaccuracies.
This year’s sessions will allow global water utilities to learn from the UK as they prepare for AMP8 readiness, navigating the complexities of meter installations across diverse household types and non-domestic sectors. At the heart of this year’s agenda is a critical question for all water utilities: How do we ensure we are not just gathering data from smart meters, but turning it into actionable insights that create real value for utilities and their customers?
Speakers will talk about:
- What types of insights can be generated from meter data? For example, identifying unusual or high consumption levels and analysing these insights to improve water efficiency
- How to create value from the data generated by meters Beyond operational efficiencies, how can this data empower customers, reduce costs, and support environmental goals?
Unlocking AI and Machine Learning Opportunities
The agenda places significant emphasis on adopting AI and machine learning tools to:
- Personalise customer engagement by analysing usage patterns (e.g., households with gardens).
- Predict leaks and other anomalies more effectively
- Enhance operational efficiency through real-time insights
Customer Engagement: Overcoming Practical Pain Points
At the heart of smart metering projects lies customer engagement. This year’s discussions will focus on how utilities can:
- Extending the smart meter experience to multi-occupancy households
- Addressing privacy and trust issues in data sharing
- Delivering real value to customers through transparent billing and actionable insights
Practical sessions will dive into how utilities are overcoming these challenges, ensuring that customer concerns are addressed while maintaining regulatory compliance.
Networking and Connectivity For Uniform Coverage
One critical area of discussion is ensuring that the communication networks underpinning smart water meters provide reliable coverage in urban and rural environments. Utilities will explore strategies to deliver consistent connectivity, regardless of location density, focusing the discussion area on LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, and hybrid solutions.
Operators further ahead, such as those in the UK, Middle East, and parts of Europe, will share insights on scaling installations, managing costs, and achieving project deliverables. Key technologies for improving communication systems will be highlighted to address ongoing challenges in expanding networks and maintaining performance.
Addressing Installation, Global Supply Chain and Scalability Issues
A recurring theme across discussions is the readiness of the supply chain. With geopolitical pressures and fluctuating supply and demand dynamics, utilities must prepare for potential delays or disruptions that could jeopardise project timelines. Contingency planning is essential for mitigating these risks and ensuring that smart metering rollouts remain on track.
Scalability is another universal challenge:
- How can utilities scale up operations to handle millions of meters generating vast quantities of data?
- How can they maintain uniform data quality and interpretation across a large network?
Cross-Industry Learning: Insights from Electricity and Gas
A unique feature of this year’s agenda is cross-industry learning. Water utilities will have the opportunity to learn from electricity and gas sectors, which have already faced similar challenges in scaling smart metering projects. These insights will provide valuable lessons on data utilisation, project management, and customer engagement strategies.
Innovative Tariff Design and Conservation Incentives
Water utilities will also explore case studies on tariff design. For example, Australia’s innovative pricing models incentivise conservation by charging higher rates for excessive usage. Sessions will evaluate the effectiveness of these models and their potential application in other regions.
These questions are critical to achieving success at scale, and sessions will address practical solutions for managing connectivity rates and data handling on large-scale deployments.
A Practical Agenda for Actionable Insights
From supply chain readiness to AI-driven data utilisation, this year’s agenda reflects the pressing needs of water utilities worldwide. Don’t miss the opportunity to:
- Learn how to overcome practical challenges in smart metering rollouts.
- Explore cutting-edge technologies and strategies for scaling projects.
- Engage with experts and peers to share best practices and solutions.
Download the brochure today and join us next March to be part of this transformative event. We look forward to meeting you and driving the future of smart water metering together!
What's New For 2025?
For a start, more new water utility speakers and a deeper dive into successful technology adoption and data-driven decision-making.
How Leading Utilities Are Tackling Water Challenges Worldwide– Sharing More Examples From Densely Populated Urban Areas Facing Severe Water Stresses
We are contacting a broad range of water utilities, including many new ones who haven’t previously spoken on European metering events. Remarkably, over half of our research calls have been with these new utilities. This expansion is key to making the event more dynamic and relevant, fostering greater international participation from water utilities and solution providers that can help.
Our goal is to bring many of these utilities on board as speakers.
Notably, public acceptance in many regions around the world is already strong—communities recognise the value of smart water technologies and are eager to adopt them. This raises an important question: What lessons can countries in the early stages of systemic droughts learn from these pioneering examples?
New Technology Evolution
The second major innovation this year is in the realm of technology. While the core categories of technology for smart water metering haven’t changed dramatically, the innovations and enhancements within these categories are now more focused on cost-effectiveness, accuracy and precision. Many utilities are particularly interested in the real-time data collection and analytics capabilities of AI-powered AMI systems, which, despite their higher cost, enable utilities to make quick, informed decisions.
Improvements To Metering Hardware
Recently, there has been a significant shift in metering hardware, with new models offering greater accuracy, durability, and lower maintenance requirements—vital innovations for utilities managing large-scale deployments. Some of these new meters include additional sensors, like pressure and temperature, providing even more comprehensive data for utilities.
The Latest Connectivity Innovations
We’re also seeing innovation in low-power IoT connectivity, such as NB-IoT, which is becoming a popular choice for cost-effective and scalable communication solutions. Similarly, more utilities are developing customer portals, and we're seeing emerging communication technologies like cellular-based metering, LPWANs, and even Amazon Sidewalk, which uses existing consumer devices for data transmission. We’ll explore how these technologies compare cost, coverage, and signal strength.
Proven Results From The Latest AI Innovations
In the past 12 months, we’ve also seen a wave of AI and modelling innovations hitting the market. We’ll highlight the best of these to show how they can integrate with current systems to enhance utility operations.
As you can see, technology integration and innovation are central themes for 2025, and we’re excited to showcase many of the latest advancements.
Calling all vendors and solution providers—can you help?
Smart water metering is a rapidly evolving, technology-driven field. Every year, the market expands, with many water utilities looking to scale up their pilot projects, upgrade existing systems, or even launch entirely new roll-outs. To navigate these technological challenges, water utilities need your expertise. Can you offer the solutions and insight they require?
Scenario 1: Implementing Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)
Can you walk utilities through minimising costs while integrating AMI systems with existing infrastructure? How does your solution compare in terms of operational and maintenance costs? What is the cost-benefit analysis of obtaining more accurate, real-time data, and how does this support a strong business case?
Scenario 2: New Communication Technologies, Including Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN)
From our research, there seems to be conflicting data on the coverage and penetration capabilities of LPWAN in both urban and rural areas—can you clarify this for water utilities? Specifically, with narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), what are the expected battery lifespans for meters, and how easy is it to scale NB-IoT across an entire utility network? How secure are these communication networks, especially since cybersecurity is a hot topic for 2025?
Scenario 3: Smart Meter Data Analytics
Water utilities are looking to use smart meter data analytics to gain better insights from their data. These platforms sound compelling, but how can you customise data analytics to meet specific utility needs? Additionally, how does your platform handle data security and privacy?
Scenario 4: Cybersecurity for Smart Water Metering Solutions
For those providing hardware or AMI solutions, what measures are in place to protect against cyber threats? How does your system comply with GDPR and other regulations? What are the best practices for guaranteeing security while minimising the costs and complexity of implementing these measures?
Scenario 5: Battery Technology for Smart Meters
What is the expected battery life for your meter type, and how easy is it to replace or recharge batteries in the field? What are the impacts on cost and the environment?
Scenario 6: Cloud-Based Metering Solutions
How do you guarantee the security of cloud-based metering systems? How do these systems impact data accessibility and reliability?
These scenarios represent just a snapshot of the questions that utilities face when deploying advanced technologies.
This year, we’re enhancing the experience by integrating more roundtable discussions into each morning and afternoon session to discuss in-depth questions like these. After the curated Q&A sessions, you'll have the opportunity to dive deeper into these issues with your peers, share findings, and connect with vendors. We hope these discussions will be valuable for water utilities and vendors, fostering new relationships and solutions.