Ready, Set, Standardise: Accelerating Smart Meter Data Standards
The next five years will see unprecedented investment in smart metering across the water sector, with companies planning the installation of around 10.4 million smart meters by 2030.
To realise the full benefits of this investment, there needs to be a consistent and trusted customer experience - supported by clear, shared expectations across the sector.
However, progress on alignment remains uneven. Without agreed minimum standards, the sector risks:
- Inconsistent customer experiences
- Missed opportunities to support water efficiency and leakage reduction
- Inefficiencies and duplication across delivery
There is now a clear opportunity to move from discussion to defining practical, sector-wide minimum standards that can support consistent delivery at scale.
Over this 4-day sprint taking place at Newcastle Racecourse, you will:
- Define minimum, customer-facing service standards for smart metering
- Focus on what customers should consistently receive and experience
- Develop and refine practical, deliverable standards and guidance
- Test and iterate these standards with real-world input and perspectives
Diversity of experience, background and thought leads to better ideas. We are looking for a balance of people from across the water industry and beyond.
Join us if you’re:
- Involved in smart metering or customer delivery in water companies
- Supporting customer engagement, water efficiency, or leakage
- Working in technology, communications, or data services
- Bringing insight from other regulated sectors or customer-focused industries
- Passionate about improving customer outcomes and sector-wide consistency
Day 1 – Understand the challenge
- Sector context, regulatory expectations, and current challenges
- Identify priority areas where minimum customer standards are needed
- Map the customer journey and key gaps in current experience
Day 2 – Define what “good” looks like
- Develop strawman customer-facing standards
- Focus on outcomes (what customers should get), not solutions (how delivered)
- Cross-industry working to build shared expectations
Day 3 – Test and refine
- Refine draft standards and supporting guidance
- Scenario-based testing using real-world situations
- Stress test clarity, usability, and consistency
Day 4 – Validate and finalise
- Test standards against customer perspectives and feedback
- Challenge deliverability at scale (what would make this hard to implement consistently?)
- Refine into a practical standardisation blueprint
- Agree next steps, ownership, and routes into sector governance
By the end of the sprint, you will have:
- Draft minimum customer-facing smart meter standards
- Supporting guidance for consistent implementation
- A clear pathway for adoption through existing sector groups (e.g. SWMDG)