City homes first to get new smart water meters

Households and businesses in Sheffield will be the first to receive new smart meters as part of a plan to install 1.3 million of the devices across Yorkshire in five years.

The new meters would allow people to track how much water they were using and help spot leaks, according to Yorkshire Water.

The firm said its contractor, Morrisons Water Services, had already begun to contact customers in the city who had meters as they were first in line for the exchange programme due to get under way in January.

James Wilson, from Yorkshire Water, said that by converting to smart metering, it could ensure its water supply was "robust, efficient and sustainable".

The company would be able to "better understand water demand and target water efficiency" by using smart water meters, Mr Wilson said.

"For customers, smart meters will help with early leakage detection, provide accurate billing and bring a better understanding of their water usage across the region."

According to Yorkshire Water, the new smart meters would be fitted in the same location as existing equipment in most cases.

If meters were within a house, they would be fitted next to the first tap in the property, usually under the sink, the company said.

Customers who had internal meters fitted would be contacted first about getting them replaced.

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said its smart meter exchange programme was expected to begin with 30,000 fitted in Sheffield and South Yorkshire in 2025 and would finish with 51,000 in Huddersfield in 2030.

All water companies had a target to reduce leakages by 50% by 2050 and just over 90% of the existing water meter network was due to reach the end of its operational life by 2030, they added.

Mr Wilson said it was recommended that customers registered for an online account if they did not already have one, as that was where they would be able to track their water usage.

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