Article
Three lessons from mobilising Southern Water’s smart metering programme
Summary
Mobilising a smart metering programme is about much more than getting the first meters into the ground. Drawing on Horizon Water Infrastructure’s team’s vast expertise and recent experience leading Southern Water’s Meter Upgrade Programme, Programme Director Richard Channell shares three lessons from mobilising one of the UK’s largest smart water meter programmes.
Mobilisation determines whether a programme succeeds
When Horizon Water Infrastructure was appointed to lead Southern Water’s Meter Upgrade Programme, we had less than three months to mobilise the Horizon Water Infrastructure Southern Water Alliance – which brought together Southern Water, Horizon Water Infrastructure, SUEZ and M Group Water to deliver the programme.
By six months into delivery, over 150,000 smart water meters had been installed. That’s a delivery rate of more than 1,000 installations per day.
Reaching that milestone didn’t happen by chance. By the time the first meter was installed, most of the decisions that would determine whether the programme could scale had already been made.
We put the essentials in place during the mobilisation stage, including:
- Programme governance
- Commercial frameworks
- Supply chain and logistics.
- Recruitment, training and accreditation
- Technology and data integration
- Customer engagement
- Operational readiness
The quality of those early decisions shaped everything that followed since.
In this article, I’ll share my three main takeaways from mobilising one of the UK’s largest smart water meter programmes, and what they show water companies about building delivery models that can sustain momentum throughout AMP8 and beyond.
1. Governance should be established before delivery begins
Every smart metering programme becomes more complex as it grows – it’s one of the most common reasons smart water rollouts lose momentum. That’s why governance needs to be established before the first customer appointment.
During mobilisation, we agreed:
- How decisions would be made
- Who was accountable for what
- How risks would be managed
- How issues would be escalated
Those discussions don’t usually attract much attention – but once delivery is underway, they’re what keep a programme moving.
When governance is clear, teams spend less time waiting for decisions, issues are resolved more quickly, and everyone understands how the programme should operate. In short, investing time in governance at the start saves considerably more time later.
2. Partnership models work best when they operate as one programme
The Horizon Water Infrastructure Southern Water Alliance brought together four organisations with different responsibilities and different areas of expertise. That diversity was one of the programme’s greatest strengths – but it also had the potential to become one of its biggest challenges.
Our priority during mobilisation wasn’t just coordinating four organisations. It was creating one delivery team with shared objectives, shared governance and shared accountability. That meant problems were solved by the people best placed to solve them, regardless of which organisation they worked for.
It sounds straightforward, but it requires trust, clear communication and a willingness to focus on the programme rather than individual organisations. Looking back, I believe that’s been one of the biggest reasons the programme has continued to maintain momentum as delivery has scaled.
3. Continuous improvement starts on day one
Mobilisation isn’t about producing a plan that never changes. It’s about creating an adaptable smart meter programme that can keep improving during rollout.
As delivery has progressed, we’ve continually reviewed how we work, looking at everything from customer communications and planning through to field operations and programme management.
The questions are simple:
- Where are customers experiencing unnecessary friction?
- Which processes are slowing delivery?
- How can we better support field teams?
- What lessons from this phase should improve the next?
Most improvements are incremental. Individually, they might seem small. Collectively, however, they improve efficiency, strengthen the customer experience and help maintain performance as the programme grows.
That’s why I don’t judge mobilisation by how quickly a programme goes live. I judge it by whether the programme is still performing well months and years later.
Reaching more than 150,000 smart water meters was an important milestone for Southern Water, our team, and our partners. But for me it’s more than that – it’s proof that investing the time to mobilise properly was the right decision.
Get in touch with Horizon Water Infrastructure
Horizon Water Infrastructure can help water companies build smart metering programmes with the governance, delivery model and operational foundations needed to perform throughout AMP8 and beyond.
Speak to Horizon Water Infrastructure about mobilising your smart metering programme.
Credits
Richard Channell is our programme director at Horizon Water Infrastructure. He has been involved in smart metering programmes since 2008, initially for electricity and gas. While at Arqiva, he worked on the smart metering programmes at Thames Water and Anglian Water, before later joining Thames himself. He brings experience of being both a supplier of smart metering technology and customer to bear in his role at Horizon Water Infrastructure.
The Southern Water Smart Meter Upgrade Programme is delivered through a Funded Data-as-a-Service model led by Horizon Water Infrastructure, bringing together SUEZ and M Group Water to form the Horizon Water Infrastructure Southern Water Alliance.
