Smart water meters for businesses

Water meters are great for businesses and the environment and are an important part of our work to futureproof our network to keep our clean, clear, great tasting water flowing to your taps.

Water is a precious resource like gas, trees, and oil. It’s not unlimited. We're fitting smart meters in your community because they help:

• To find leaks quickly (especially the invisible ones). We want to support communities to protect against precious water being wasted and underground leaks from causing damage to homes, businesses, and the environment.
• Understand how homes and businesses use water, so we can make sure you always have water when you turn the tap on.

Smart water meters connect to the water supply at a property, and they measure water usage just like a normal water meter.

They take a reading every hour and send them to us each day. This information will help us to better understand how communities and businesses use water to help us plan for the future of the water network.

In some cases, we can install smart meters without any impact to your water supply, but we may need to turn off the water supply for a short time so that we can work safely.

We will never turn off your water supply without notice and we intend to work with you to limit any impact on your business as much as possible.

We understand how important it is to keep water flowing so we will work with you to limit the impact to your business as much as possible.

This can vary from 30 minutes to a few hours, and this depends on the location of the pipework.

We will make sure we provide you with information specific to work that may impact your business before we start.

We would recommend contacting your retailer once your upgrade has taken place to understand how they will calculate your bill.

We’ll be in touch when it’s time to upgrade you to a smart meter.

In some cases, we can carry out the work without any need for your business to be open or for you to be present. In other cases, we may need to gain access.

Eligible businesses, charities and public sector organisations in England can choose who provides their water and wastewater retail services.

We would recommend checking your bill as this will be provided by your retailer.

Yes, because water resource is simply too important to our environment and communities.

Legislation gives water companies the ability to install meters on the pipes they own.

We’re upgrading existing water meters to make sure the water network in your local area has the newest technology and is fit for the future.

We’re fitting smart meters in your community because they help:

• To find leaks quickly (especially the invisible ones!). We want to support communities to protect against precious water being wasted and underground leaks from causing damage to homes, businesses, and the environment.
• understand how homes and businesses use water, so we can make sure you always have water when you turn the tap on.

If we find a leak on the public water network, we will repair this as it is our responsibility.

Smart water meters may help us to identify a leak sooner. If we identify one, we’ll be able to contact you sooner to support you with repairing this. This protects precious water and can also help to protect your business.

Your property will move onto a metered tariff from the date the smart meter is installed and your water retailer will be informed of this.

To understand how this impacts your future billing and payments, you will need to speak directly with your retailer. 

We will let retailers know about the new meter within five days of the installation.

Your retailer will update your account and support you as normal with any information about your payments.

It's a good idea to let your landlord know about the work we plan to do.

We don't always have up-to-date contact details for landlords.