For smart metering to succeed, water companies need to look beyond AMP8

By Tanya Dady, Smart Solutions Design Partner at Horizon Water Infrastructure

Summary

This article explains why water companies must look beyond AMP8 to ensure smart water meters deliver long-term technical, financial and regulatory value. It outlines how Ofwat expectations make rollout alone insufficient, and why programmes must integrate delivery, funding and data from the outset.

Smart metering programmes fail when delivery, funding and outcomes are treated separately

Water companies rolling out smart water meters in AMP8 are under intense pressure to mobilise quickly – while still delivering long-term operational and regulatory outcomes.

It’s understandable that many AMP8 water programmes focus on delivery metrics such as installation volume, connectivity and rollout pace. Smart metering, however, is not an AMP8 project. It is a 15–20 year infrastructure decision that will shape customer engagement, operational performance and capital allocation long after the current cycle ends.

As Smart Solutions Design Partner at Horizon Water Infrastructure, with nearly two decades in the water sector, I have seen that the strongest programmes treat rollout as the starting point – not the definition of success. With Ofwat scrutiny increasing, the challenge is no longer simply delivering meters. It is designing programmes that deliver long-term value.

In this article, I will explain why for smart metering to succeed, water companies need to look beyond AMP8 – and how Horizon Water Infrastructure can support that shift by integrating advisory expertise, delivery capability and capital-optimised deployment structures to help utilities mobilise at pace while building long-term outcomes in from day one.

Let’s explore how Horizon Water Infrastructure can support your smart metering programme.

Smart metering programmes perform best when they are built for long-term performance, not short-term rollout

A smart metering rollout is not a short-term deployment. It is infrastructure embedded in the ground for decades. Devices, data platforms, communications networks, integration architecture and field processes must perform consistently over the life of the programme – not simply during mobilisation.

That matters because the most consequential decisions are made early in AMP8 – technology selection, comms strategy, data integration design, operating model and supplier structure. Once meters are deployed at scale, those decisions are extremely difficult to unwind without disruption, cost and operational risk.

In short, water companies need a partner that gets it right the first time. That means a partner that can support more than installation delivery. They need a partner that can:

Select and validate proven technologies suited to the operating environment
Conduct robust lifecycle and warranty due diligence before large-scale deployment
Design repeatable operational processes that sustain performance at scale
Embed governance, testing and performance management from day one

When these foundations are built into the programme early, rollout becomes more predictable, delivery risk reduces, and long-term performance becomes far more secure.

Southern Water’s rapidly mobilised smart metering programme highlights how quickly large-scale rollout can accelerate once contracts are signed and delivery begins. At that pace, early technical and structural decisions are amplified across thousands of assets, reinforcing the importance of getting the foundations right from the outset.

Find out more about how we work for water companies.

Smart metering only remains financially sustainable when capital, risk and delivery are structured together

AMP8 water programmes operate within fixed revenue settlements under Ofwat’s PR24 framework. Performance commitments link delivery to financial consequences. That means capital timing, risk allocation and outcome delivery are tightly connected.

When smart metering is structured purely around rollout pace, operational risk can increase, and long-term value can be diluted. Installation targets may be met, but financial resilience can weaken.

For smart metering to remain sustainable, water companies need a delivery model that aligns rollout pace with capital planning and regulatory accountability. That requires a partner that can:

Structure programmes around whole-life value, not upfront unit cost
Provide clarity on regulatory treatment and risk allocation
Link metering investment directly to measurable performance outcomes

By bringing delivery and funding considerations together from the outset, friction reduces and performance certainty increases.

Southern Water’s meter upgrade programme – delivered through an Alliance model with Horizon Water Infrastructure as lead delivery partner – demonstrates how mobilisation, scale and structured delivery can be aligned within a multi-AMP framework rather than treated as a short-term installation exercise.

The objective is not simply to fund meters. It is to ensure smart metering strengthens operational and regulatory performance rather than competing with other delivery priorities.

Find out more about financial strategies for water companies.

Smart water meters only create regulatory and operational value when data is actively turned into outcomes

Installing smart water meters does not automatically reduce leakage, influence demand or improve customer outcomes. The value of smart metering is realised only when data becomes operational – which is exactly what our Data-as-a-Service (DaaS)/ Metering-as-as-Service(MaaS) model is designed to enable.

In AMP8, that distinction matters. Ofwat’s framework is outcome-focused. Installation numbers alone do not deliver those outcomes.

For smart metering to translate into regulatory value, water companies need a structure that ensures:

Meter data flows reliably into operational systems
Leakage and consumption insights are acted on quickly
Customer engagement strategies are aligned with usage data
Governance structures track performance beyond rollout

That requires coordination across procurement, operations, finance, customer teams and field delivery. Without early stakeholder alignment, programmes can mobilise quickly but struggle to convert data into measurable improvement.

This is where partnership again becomes critical. A delivery partner must do more than install assets. They must help design the operating model that turns metering into a performance engine.

When people, processes and technology are aligned from day one, smart metering becomes embedded in operational performance – not left as a standalone asset programme.

Find out more about Metering-as-a-Service.

Smart metering delivers its full value when AMP8 is treated as mobilisation, not the finish line

AMP8 runs from 2025 to 2030. Smart meters installed during this period will remain in service well into AMP9 and beyond. The operational and financial consequences of today’s decisions will extend across multiple Asset Management Periods (AMPs).

If smart metering is framed as an AMP8 delivery requirement, value becomes constrained. If it is framed as a multi-cycle transformation programme, its potential expands.

For smart metering to succeed, water companies need to look beyond AMP8. That means:

Building technical resilience for decades, not five years
Structuring capital and delivery for long-term stability
Embedding data capability and stakeholder alignment early

Horizon Water Infrastructure was established to support exactly that challenge. By integrating advisory expertise, structured delivery and optimised deployment models, we work alongside water companies to help them mobilise effectively in AMP8 while protecting long-term performance certainty.

Installation is the visible milestone. Long-term outcomes are the real objective. The difference lies in how the programme is designed from the start.

Let’s explore how Horizon Water Infrastructure can support your smart metering programme.