“We’re committed to maximising the value of the technology we’ve developed at Thames Water”
Smart metering has become a cornerstone of Thames Water’s strategy to tackle leakage, improve efficiency, and empower customers to take control of their water use. Over the past decade, the utility has installed more than 1.2 million smart meters — making it one of the largest and most ambitious programmes of its kind in the UK. With a new rollout underway in the Thames Valley and the adoption of cutting-edge NB-IoT technology, the company is entering its next phase of transformation.
To discuss this journey and what lies ahead, we sat down with Mark Cooper, Head of Smart Metering at Thames Water, who shares insights into Thames Water’s roadmap, the challenges and opportunities of large-scale smart meter deployment, and the lessons other utilities can draw from their experience.
Please tell us briefly about your background and your current professional role.
My career spans the water and telecommunications sectors, holding a range of roles, including civil engineering, telecommunications engineering, and program management. In my current position as Head of Smart Metering and Demand Reduction at Thames Water, I lead all metering programmes—covering both residential and non-household customers.
A key benefit of expanding into Thames Valley is the opportunity to gain comparative insights into water usage across different demographics
I’m also responsible for customer-side leakage repair activities and driving demand reduction initiatives. It’s a role that blends technical oversight with stakeholder engagement, and I’m proud of the measurable impact we’ve had on water efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Thames Water plans to reach 1 million more homes with smart meters by 2030 and 3 million by 2035. What’s your roadmap for achieving this, and what benefits will it bring for both the utility and its customers?
It is important to highlight that working with our installation partner, M Group, we’ve deployed approximately 1.2 million smart meters, with the majority concentrated in London, over the past decade. This long-standing programme has provided us with deep operational experience and valuable customer insights.
Following recent procurement activity, we’re now starting the build-out of our Thames Valley smart metering programme, which will be delivered over the next five years. This marks a significant expansion of our metering footprint beyond London.
It is important to highlight that working with our installation partner, M Group, we’ve deployed approximately 1.2 million smart meters
One of the key benefits of expanding into Thames Valley is the opportunity to gain comparative insights into water usage across different property types and demographics. We anticipate notable differences in consumption patterns between London and Thames Valley, which will inform future planning and customer engagement strategies.
The Thames Valley rollout will bring a range of further benefits already realised in London, including improved visibility of consumption versus leakage, enhanced targeting of mains replacement, and empowering customers to better understand and manage their water usage.
As we continue to roll out our smart meter installation programme, we also expect to unlock new billing models — such as more accurate and frequent billing, monthly consumption-based billing, and potentially time-of-use or rising block tariffs to help manage network demand.
Rolling out smart meters at this scale brings technical complexity. What have been the main challenges in terms of integration, connectivity, and long-term performance, and how have you addressed them?
For the past 10 years, we’ve partnered with Arqiva primarily in London, using FlexNet radio technology supported by 119 masts. As technology has evolved, we’ve undertaken a new procurement process for Thames Valley and are now partnering with Vodafone, Honeywell, and Sensus to deploy Narrowband-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) — a new technology for us that offers significant advantages. It is a low-power wide-area (LPWA) cellular technology standard designed for connecting a massive number of low-power, low-throughput devices over long distances, such as smart meters.
Importantly, this does not replace Arqiva; the NB-IoT network coverage will complement our existing infrastructure, enhancing flexibility and coverage. A major advantage of adopting NB-IoT is the ability to leverage Vodafone’s existing network infrastructure. This has enabled us to achieve 96% coverage across Thames Valley almost overnight — a truly game-changing development in terms of deployment speed and scalability.
Your use of Vodafone’s NB-IoT network is a first at this scale. What advantages does it offer over traditional networks, and how have you handled challenges like signal coverage or battery life?
We are in the early stages of deployment, and we’re currently focusing on integrating supplier head-end systems with our meter data management platform. So far, the connectivity between meters and supplier head-end systems has exceeded our expectations during initial deployment. We’ve also successfully stress-tested the system in areas with low signal availability.
The Thames Valley rollout will bring further benefits already realised in London, including improved visibility of consumption versus leakage
To date, we’ve deployed approximately 30,000 smart meters using the new technology. We anticipate scaling this up by 10,000 to 15,000 meters per month over the next three months.
One key advantage of our extensive NB-IoT network coverage is the ability to take a more agile approach to installation. This allows us to rapidly target areas with short lead times — such as being able to deploy installations to the areas of our network which is affected by our current Temporary Use Ban.
Smart meters have already helped detect over 84,000 customer-side leaks and support better water-use decisions — how will expanding the program both drive leakage reduction by 2050 and engage customers to act on the data through tools, alerts, or support?
Always-on visibility and empowering customers: the broader deployment and increased coverage of smart meters will enable us to detect existing leaks for timely repair, while also providing continuous monitoring across the Thames Water estate.
This “always-on” visibility means we can identify customer-side leaks more quickly, leading to faster interventions and a reduction in water lost through leakage.
In addition, making smart meter data available to customers empowers them to take control of their water usage. They can see in near real time the impact of issues like a leaky toilet or dripping tap on their consumption and bills, which encourages self-fixing and more mindful water use.
For the past 10 years, we’ve partnered with Arqiva primarily in London, using FlexNet radio technology supported by 119 masts
Accurate consumption vs. leakage tracking is vital: From our experience in London, we’ve seen a measurable reduction in leakage as smart meter deployment has increased. The data we gather through smart meters helps us distinguish between genuine consumption — both household and non-household — and leakage, allowing us to better understand and reduce the water we contribute to annual leakage figures.
Smart meters also support our water efficiency initiatives: by understanding consumption at the property level, we can better target support, such as our Smarter Home Visits, which help customers reduce their usage.
Customers can access their consumption data through our online account management system. However, we’re running a programme to enhance our digital offering to help support water efficiency — including maximising the capabilities of our website, and providing customer-facing digital toolkits — to help customers reduce their water demand. This is achieved through a series of behavioural nudges and additional incentives designed to encourage more sustainable water use. We also partner with GreenRedeem to encourage customers to use less water.
How does Thames Water’s smart metering program compare with international efforts? Are there global utilities you look to, or that look to you, and how do you share insights across borders?
Since the programme began, we’ve been recognised globally as a leader in the industry.
Smart meters also support our water efficiency initiatives: by understanding consumption at the property level, we can better target support
We’ve hosted numerous visits from international water companies, including those from Chile, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Singapore and most recently Sabesp from São Paulo, Brazil. Interestingly, Sabesp is planning to deploy 4 million smart meters, and we were delighted to see that since their visit to Thames Water, they have recently signed the largest IoT contract in the world to support their smart water meter rollout to all properties in São Paulo and São José dos Campos.
Ahead of selecting NB-IoT as our complementary technology provider, we engaged with water companies in Australia and Spain — both of which are ahead of us in trialling and deploying NB-IoT. Their insights have been invaluable in shaping our approach.
What future technologies or business models, such as predictive maintenance, home integration, or metering-as-a-service, are you exploring to further improve water management?
With over a decade of experience deploying and operating our smart meter network, we’ve significantly matured our operational capabilities. Our focus over the next five years is to achieve representative and equitable smart meter penetration across our operating area, ensuring all customers benefit from the technology.
We’re committed to maximising the value of the technology we’ve developed at Thames Water. This includes maintaining meter operability, which is essential for meeting new performance commitments introduced by Ofwat, in line with the proposed expansion of smart metering across the UK during this AMP.
Collaboration across suppliers, technology providers, and internal teams ensures resilience and efficiency throughout the programme
We’re closely observing emerging models in the industry, such as metering-as-a-service and Data as a Service, which several companies are adopting as they begin their smart meter journeys. As these programmes mature, we’ll assess their benefits to inform our future strategy.
What are the biggest lessons Thames Water has learned from its smart metering journey, and what advice would you offer to other utilities planning similar transformations?
Two lessons stand out from our smart meter journey:
- Strong partnerships are vital to the successful rollout and long-term operation of smart meters. Collaboration across suppliers, technology providers, and internal teams ensures resilience and efficiency throughout the programme.
- Broad telecoms network coverage enables a more flexible and targeted deployment strategy. This allows us to unlock benefits earlier in the rollout — especially in priority areas where smart meters can have the greatest impact.
I’m especially looking forward to November, when we’ll celebrate the 10-year anniversary of our first smart meter installation.
This milestone marks a decade of innovation and progress, and we plan to celebrate and reflect on the significant benefits smart meters have delivered for both our customers and the environment.