How smart water programmes can stay adaptable as requirements change

By Simon Bryant, Finance & Commercial Director at Horizon Water Infrastructure

Summary

Water companies delivering smart water meters at scale in AMP8 need to ensure those programmes can evolve as requirements change. Simon Bryant, Finance & Commercial Director at Horizon Water Infrastructure, argues that the challenge is not just delivering rollout – but ensuring programmes can adapt as technology develops, suppliers change and expectations increase. With Ofwat placing greater emphasis on long-term performance and outcomes, he explains why traditional delivery models create constraints, and how Horizon Water Infrastructure’s vendor-agnostic approach helps water companies retain flexibility while maintaining clear accountability.

Most smart water programmes lock water companies into early supplier and technology decisions

Most smart water programmes begin in the same way. A water company defines the scope, selects suppliers and puts contracts in place to deliver a smart water meter rollout.

That approach works well for mobilisation. It allows rollout to start quickly and gives teams a clear delivery structure. The issue is that those early decisions lock the water company into specific suppliers, technologies and contracts that are difficult to change later.

In practice, water companies tend to either:

Procure meters, communications, installation and software separately, and manage the integration themselves
Appoint a single provider or fixed supplier group to deliver the full solution

In both cases, the water company is locking in specific:

Meter technologies
Communications networks
Software platforms
Installation partners

Once those supplier and technology choices are embedded into contracts, changing them without disrupting delivery becomes difficult.

At Horizon Water Infrastructure, we take a different approach. We structure programmes around outcomes and manage the supply chain so suppliers, technology and scope can change without disruption.

Talk to our team about your smart water programme.

As smart water programmes develop, changing suppliers or technology becomes slow and disruptive

Once a smart water meter rollout is underway, the requirements placed on that programme start to change.

Water companies typically need to:

Replace suppliers that are not performing as expected
Introduce new technologies as the market develops
Add capabilities such as leakage detection or demand reduction
Expand or adjust the scope of the rollout

In a traditional delivery model, those changes are difficult to make.

If a water company wants to replace a communications provider or introduce a new meter technology, it often has to go back out to procurement or renegotiate existing contracts. That process takes time and slows delivery.

As a result, I often see water companies continuing with suppliers or technologies that are no longer the best fit, simply because changing them would be too disruptive.

Over time, that creates three clear issues:

Programmes become harder to change as they grow
New capabilities are added separately rather than integrated properly
Delivery slows as teams work around existing contracts and suppliers

The risk is not just choosing the wrong supplier or technology at the start. The risk is being unable to change that choice once the programme is in motion.

Horizon Water Infrastructure enables water companies to change suppliers, technology and scope without going back to square one

The issue sits in how smart water programmes are structured – so the solution is to structure them differently.

At Horizon Water Infrastructure, we are independent of the supply chain. We are not a meter manufacturer, communications provider, installer or software company. That means we are not tied to any specific supplier or technology.

Instead, we structure smart water programmes around the outcome that needs to be delivered, and then build and manage the supply chain to support that outcome.

Because of that, we can:

Replace suppliers if performance is not where it needs to be
Introduce new technologies without re-procuring the entire programme
Add new capabilities such as leakage detection or demand reduction within the same structure
Adjust the delivery approach as requirements change

Our model reflects the reality of smart water delivery

To deliver effectively, you need expertise across metering, communications, software, installation, customer engagement and financing – what I often describe as a “Swiss army knife” set of capabilities. No single supplier can optimise all of those areas over time.

Our role is to coordinate that mix, manage the interfaces and take responsibility for delivery – while retaining the flexibility to change individual components as needed. That means water companies are not left managing multiple suppliers themselves, but they also avoid being locked into a single supplier or technology approach.

They retain the ability to adapt the programme without having to stop and start again.

Explore how Horizon Water Infrastructure can help you avoid supplier lock-in in smart water delivery

Smart water programmes need to evolve. That means water companies need to be able to change suppliers, introduce new technology and expand scope without slowing delivery.

At Horizon Water Infrastructure, we structure programmes so those changes can happen as part of delivery – not through re-procurement or major restructuring.

We bring together the right mix of suppliers, manage the interfaces between them and take responsibility for performance, while retaining the flexibility to adapt the supply chain as requirements change. That gives water companies a delivery model that can evolve over time, rather than one they are locked into.